The Suburbs of Sodom, Part 1
When Abraham and his nephew Lot separated because of their great flocks and possessions, Abraham allowed Lot to choose first where to go. Lot lifted up his eyes to the well-watered fertile plains before Sodom, and he turned to the east, where he pitched his tent toward Sodom. The plain was beautiful, even as the Garden of Eden, but it was too close to Sodom where the men of the city were exceedingly wicked before the Lord. Eventually, the pull of its wickedness drew him, and he moved from the suburbs into to the city where he settled his family.
Lot threw in his lot with the Sodomites, going from tolerance to acceptance. When God sent two angels to rescue him and his family before their fiery destruction, some refused to flee, and he lost his wife on the way out. Many in the church today are pitching their spiritual tents, just like Lot had first pitched his tent, in the green lush suburbs of Sodom, but he didn’t stay there.