Remember Lot's Wife

On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. (Luke 17:31-33)

As we move forward to these verses, remember that the context Jesus was talking about is the end times, and He had told us the days would come when we desire to see Him come back and that false Messiahs would rise up but that we shouldn’t go out or follow them. With that in mind, Jesus is admonishing us to not cling to the things of this world, but to cling tightly to Him alone.

Goods in the House

Jesus is about to mention the rapture (which we’ll dig into next week), and He’s prefacing it with a heart check.

We should not be concerning ourselves with the goods in the house and be focused on them as if we could even bring them with us in the end. Sure, we have houses, we have goods and things that we use to survive and maintain life while we’re here on earth, but those things are of no value to us in the end and will ultimately be left behind.

Our heart shouldn’t be concerned with what will be left behind in our house, but instead remembering and looking forward to where our home truly is in heaven.

Lot’s Wife

It’s interesting that Jesus references an event all the way back in Genesis when talking about the end times, and that one little three worded sentence, Remember Lot’s wife, is a strong warning for us.

That word for “remember” means to be mindful of, to hold in your memory, to rehearse – and used in this context, it basically means to regularly be mindful of in order to learn a lesson from it.

In the account of Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed, we read about Lot and his family being saved by angels right before it was destroyed. And the angels warned them not to look back or stop when they said “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” (Genesis 19:17)

Now this warning of not looking back or stopping was both a practical and spiritual one for them, because they needed to quickly get out and away so they didn’t get physically swept away in the destruction; but to look back and stop would also be a heart issue of longing for those days lived in those cities of sin. And yet, despite the warnings, we read that “Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” (Genesis 19:26)

Lot’s wife wanted to preserve and longed for the life she had lived in that sinful city, despite being told not to, that the judgment of it was being preserved into a pillar of salt. Lot’s wife stopped and looked back at what she was told to turn away from and it destroyed her. But it wouldn’t have just happen all of a sudden, she was likely lingering in her mind and heart, longing to look and turn back, and what she set her mind on is what she did.

To Preserve or Lose

In light of all this – not loving things more than God and the fact that what Lot’s wife set her mind on is what she did – it brings to mind what Paul said in Colossians 3:2-4, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” If we are earthly minded, we are going to be more about the things of this world than the things above it. But if we are setting our minds on the things that are above, then we have Jesus as our focus and we truly have, regardless of what we lose in this world. And we have that as a guarantee because Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)

This all comes down to our identity – are we of the world or in Christ? There is a stark contrast between one who is in love with the world and tries to preserve their identity in it, versus one who is in love with Jesus and is willing to lose their life to maintain their identity in Him and keep it.

Christ is everything! Therefore, may we heed the warning and remember Lot’s wife; always being willing to lose anything, to gain everything in Christ.