One of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back . . . ! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

— Genesis 19:17

Genesis 19 tells the tragic story of Abraham’s nephew Lot. Until the arrival of two heavenly messengers, Lot was oblivious to the danger around him. He had gotten so close to sin and evil that he had lost perspective. Lot was a God-fearing man, but he had a divided heart. He loved the Lord, but he also loved the things of the world. Lot tried to serve two masters. But in the end he lost everything that mattered to him.

Failure in the Christian life is seldom the result of a sudden blowout. Most often it is the result of a slow leak. It usual­ly involves a gradual drifting away from God and into sin, as was the case with Lot. He and his family were so torn by their ­divided loyalties that the heavenly messengers had to lead them by hand out of the city before destruction rained down.

God’s exhortation still stands: flee from evil! Flee, before evil gets its claws so deeply embedded into you that you are unable to break free. Running from sin is not the mark of a coward, but yielding to sin is. It takes guts to admit our vulnerability and to flee from sin’s overwhelming power. There is a high price in choosing to follow Jesus—but an even higher price in not choosing to follow him.

Lord, our hearts are often divided. We have become so accustomed to sin that we no longer blush. Forgive us. Purify us. Make us wholly yours. May we run to you whenever we are overwhelmed. Amen.