Basic HTML Version
Unsafe Streets, February 15
Genesis 19:1-14
And there came two angels to Sodom at even: and Lot sat in the gate of
Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; ... and he said, Behold
now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all
night.
Genesis 19:1, 2
.
Lot, Abraham’s nephew, though he had made his home in Sodom, was
imbued with the patriarch’s spirit of kindness and hospitality. Seeing at nightfall
two strangers at the city gate, and knowing the dangers sure to beset them in
that wicked city, Lot insisted on bringing them to his home. To the peril that
might result to himself and his household he gave no thought. It was a part of
his lifework to protect the imperiled and to care for the homeless, and the deed
performed in kindness to two unknown travelers brought angels to his home.
Those whom he sought to protect, protected him. At nightfall he had led them
for safety to his door; at the dawn they led him and his household forth in safety
from the gate of the doomed city
Lot did not know their true character, but politeness and hospitality were
habitual with him; they were a part of his religion—lessons that he had learned
from the example of Abraham. Had he not cultivated a spirit of courtesy, he
might have been left to perish with the rest of Sodom. Many a household, in
closing its doors against a stranger, has shut out God’s messenger, who would
have brought blessing and hope and peace.
Every act of life, however small, has its bearing for good or for evil. Faith-
fulness or neglect in what are apparently the smallest duties may open the door
for life’s richest blessings or its greatest calamities. It is little things that test
the character. It is the unpretending acts of daily self-denial, performed with a
cheerful, willing heart, that God smiles upon. We are not to live for self, but for
others. And it is only by self-forgetfulness, by cherishing a loving, helpful spirit,
that we can make our life a blessing. The little attentions, the small, simple
courtesies, go far to make up the sum of life’s happiness, and the neglect of these
constitutes no small share of human wretchedness
[53]
32
Testimonies for the Church 6:342
.
33
Patriarchs and Prophets, 158
.
52