Lessons From The Life Of Abraham (3-5)

Every man and woman that God placed in the scriptures is put there to teach us something. For example:

• From the life of Abraham we can learn many valuable lessons on faith

• From the life of Joseph we learn about the providence of God

• From the life of Job we learn the importance of patience

I am indeed grateful that God put these people in the scriptures so that we can learn from their lives. I am glad God made space in the Word of God about the life of Lot.

Why? Because, his life also can teach us so many things.

• The life of Abraham can teach us many things in a positive way

• The life of Lot can teach us many things in a negative way

We want to deviate from the life of Abraham somewhat in this series and focus on Abraham’s nephew, Lot. From the life of Lot we can learn many things such as:

I. HOW TO KEEP FROM MAKING BAD DECISIONS

Illus: Someone said, “It may be true that there are two sides to every story, but it is also true that there are two sides to a sheet of flypaper, and it makes a big difference to the fly which side he chooses.” (Traditional)

One of the things that we do every day is make decisions. There are all kinds of decisions we make.

• We make good decisions

• We make bad decisions

• We make selfish decisions

• We make hasty decisions

• We make foolish decisions

• We make tough decisions

• We make easy decisions

I guess the most frequent type of decision from this list is the foolish decision. We all have made our share of them.

Illus: Did you hear about the man who made the decision to go shopping downtown? He went shopping in the various stores downtown. When he returned to the parking lot he saw a policeman writing a ticket.

• He walked up to the policeman and saw that the meter had only run out five minutes before. He said, "Come on, buddy, how about giving a fellow a break?"

• He said the officer ignored him and continued writing the ticket. So he said, “I called him a pencil-necked Nazi.”

• “He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn tires! So I told him he was an idiot.”

• He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first.

• Then he started writing a third ticket! This went on for about 20 minutes.

He said, “The more I abused him, the more tickets he wrote. I didn't care. My car was parked around the corner.”

Illus: Speaking of decisions, a married couple was celebrating their 60th anniversary.

A party was given to celebrate the occasion. At the party, everybody wanted to know how they managed to stay married so long in this day and age. The husband responded, "When we were first married we came to an agreement. I would make all the major decisions and my wife would make all the minor decisions. And in 60 years of marriage we have never needed to make a major decision."

• Some of the decisions we make each day are MINOR, and if we make a bad decision it is not going to affect us that much.

• Some of the decisions we make are MAJOR, and if we make a bad decision it will affect us greatly.

Some of the greatest men who ever walked on this earth have made some very bad decisions.

When God told Abraham to pack up and leave the land of Ur, He never told him to take Lot with him. This is a decision Abraham made himself and it is one he later regretted making.

We saw HOW TO KEEP FROM MAKING BAD DECISIONS. Now look at -

II. HOW TO MAKE GOOD DECISIONS

We can benefit a lot from the life of Lot by doing the opposite of what he did. He made his choice not based on prayer and seeking God, but based on:

• What looked exciting

• What looked good

Illus: A man is dating three women and must decide which to marry. He decides to give them a test. He gives each woman a present of $500.00 and watches to see what they do with the money.

• The first woman does a total makeover. She goes to a fancy beauty salon, gets her hair done, gets new make up and buys several new outfits, and dresses up very nicely for the man. She tells him that she has done this to be more attractive for him because she loves him so much. The man was impressed.