Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. (Gen 19,1)

Let us now leave Abraham for a time and turn our attention to his nephew, Lot. This is not the first time we meet him in the book of Genesis, but it is certainly the last. After chapter 19, there are only fleeting mentions of him in the Bible, but no further story.

Lot only got to the promised land because Abram took him with him after he was called. So he was a witness of the transformation that took place with Abram when he left the idols and began to worship the Lord. Lot did not object to this - on the contrary, if he had objected, he would not have gone with Abram on the journey. So he also was a worshiper of the LORD, one who rejected idolatry, even his own. He saw Abram continue to change as he followed God. Lot was on the right path with him - but only because he was close to someone who followed God. Herein lies Lot's eternal "but." He believes right, he does right - as long as he is under the right influence. But the source is not his own; it does not spring from the inside out as it did with Abram.

Lot has been a witness for many years of how Abram worships God, how he chooses his path, how he makes decisions, how he handles situations. He has seen the blessings that followed. Lot liked the practical outcomes and enjoyed them as long as he stayed with Abram. But to have the same heart for God - that seems to have been too much for him. In short, we do not see that Lot himself made a single personal decision in which he preferred God, without Abraham. We do not see that he favors eternity over temporal good. All that he had in this matter, and how far he had gone, all that was through Abraham's influence.

Lot thus represents a man whose heart does not beat for God though he believes in the right one. It is good to note that he nevertheless maintained a kind of moral standard, did not fall away from God - i.e. lived externally better than the vast majority of people around him. Yet he stagnated, and to stagnate means to slowly degrade on the spiritual path, for life demands growth or it stunts. A man who does not have his own, refined, fought-out relationship with God can only walk in the way of pious imitation. As long as he is under a good influence, it works somehow. That was able to lead Lot as long as he was close to Abram. But as soon as he separated from him internally, he found himself on the road to destruction.