The following reflection on Genesis 19:8 comes in part from handwritten notes in my ESV Journaling Bible, Interleaved Edition.
Genesis 19:8: "Behold, I have two daughters": Lot proposes a wicked, callous, cowardly solution—inexcusable even if, as some commentators believe, he were only "bluffing" (knowing, perhaps, that the men of Sodom would reject his offer). From our perch on the moral high ground, we say, "Lot should have laid down his life to save the lives of both his two visitors (who were angels in disguise) and his two daughters!"
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
But what about me? I'm a preacher who believes nothing less than heaven and hell are at stake in people's decisions concerning Jesus and his gospel. I believe that hell in eternity is far worse than any hell on earth—which this scripture passage describes. Yet every day I encounter people who haven't yet received God's gift of salvation through Christ. Unless they change course and believe the gospel, I believe they are bound for hell.
Yet how often do I share with them God's rescue plan through Christ? How do I even pray for opportunities to share the gospel? Do I not believe that the gospel itself has power through the Holy Spirit to effect transformation, as Paul implies in Romans 1:16?
If Paul is right in Acts 20:26-27 ("Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God."), at what point is the blood of others on my hands? Would I sacrifice people to hell for the sake of my comfort, my respectability, my desperate desire to blend in? How could I say otherwise given my own cowardice and indifference about evangelism?
See, not only am I afraid of dying for my faith, I'm afraid of dying of embarrassment for my faith.
Holy Spirit, give me the power to change!
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