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Can't Go On - Group 1 Crew |
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The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. Then Abraham approached him and said, "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you you to do such a thing - to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
The LORD said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."
Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?"
If I find forty-five there," he said, "I will not destroy it."
Once again he spoke to him, "What if only forty are found there?"
He said, "For the sake of forty, I will not do it."
Then he said. "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?"
He answered, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."
Abraham said, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?"
He said, "For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it."
Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?"
He answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."
When the LORD had inished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.
So, did you get confused about who was speaking? =]
There's a few things that amaze me about this passage, and I'm gonna talk about them now, in no particular order.
One of the things is how God knows what Abrahams concerns are, without Abraham even needing to say it out loud. God knows that Abraham is concerned about Lot, and he cares, and saves Lot. I guess this shows me that God knows our heart before we tell him.. he knows our prayers before they are uttered... and he always cares. He's always looking out for us and the people that we care about.
Another thing that amazes me is Abraham's compassion for Lot and the people that live around him. He wishes for an ugodly nation to be saved, and even though it doesn't come to fruition his compassion for the ungodly nation is amazing. I guess it shows me that, nowadays, even if people aren't living for God, we are still to care for them and pray for their salvation (which is kinda what Abraham was asking for, when you think about it.) The fact is, we're all God's people, whether we acknowledge it or not, whether we live like it or not. He created all of us. Segregation by labels such as "the lost", "nonbelievers", "nonChristians" is not only unneccessary but can be quite offensive.. we are all God's children, we are all human. And even Christians don't acknowledge God sometimes, and don't live like God's people.
And the final thing that amazes me is something that this passage reveals about the righteous and the unrighteous... when I say righteous about Christians, note that I mean, righteous because of what Christ has done, not that we live great lives and we're high up...
It reveals that because of the righteous (those who have turned to Christ) the unrighteous may be spared... they may come to know Him.
And that's something we need to remember.
I think my brother sees Jesus in me. My family know how into God and church I am. But my brother has a habit of using my laptop a lot (for some reason, email doesn't work on the PC and we can't figure out why) and so he sees my wallpaper a lot.
Below is a thumbnail of my most recent wallpaper - click on it to see a larger version.
And even if he doesn't pay much attention, those words will probably gradually sink in (though come to think of it, they are a bit hard to read) and that's pretty cool =]
There's lots of ways to have a positive influence and reveal salvation to the people around us =]
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