The Sins of Sodom

I really like the church we’re attending right now.  We haven’t decided for sure whether or not this is our permanent church home, but it’s more and more in the running every week.  There’s only one problem with the church:

I never leave feeling comfortable. I’ve left changed.  I’ve left affirmed.  I’ve left challenged.  I’ve left convicted.  But I have never once stepped out those doors comfortable with my current Christian state.  And I have to say that’s a good thing.  If we’re comfortable, something is really, really wrong.

This week was the worst week of all.  The pastor asked a simple question, “What did Sodom do to merit destruction?”  Stop reading right now and answer that question.  Think about it.  Go to Genesis 19 and read the account.  I can wait.  I’m watching the NASCAR race.  It’ll entertain me while you’re gone.

Got your answer?  Okay.  I thought I had my answer too, and then the pastor read Ezekiel 16:49:  Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. (NAS)

Did your stomach just fall to the floor?  Mine did.  Somehow, I’ve read that before, but it has never really sunk in.  Today, it was like somebody took a hammer and nailed it to my brain.  Not pretty, is it?  (The verse, not my analogy. Even though my analogy wasn’t very palatable either…)

The point is this…  We cannot afford to say that “we” are like Sodom.  That’s not enough.  It distances us from the sin.  Read that verse again, and realize that the fact is we need to be saying, “I am like Sodom.”  There.  Does that drive it home?  Does that make your heart clinch?  Make you want to shake your head in denial?

I guess that means there is just one more question to ask ourselves… What am I going to do about it?  Because if every single one of us asked ourselves that question, we’d be a changed city, a changed nation, a changed world.

-JB