Genesis 19:18-20 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.

When I do not know how to act, or in my present situation, react, I often look to examples within the bible and try to be honest with myself. “Am I being like that?”

“Thy servant” really? If I consider myself to be a servant of the Lord, am I being obedient in what I am told to do, or am I bartering with my Lord to get my own way?

“I cannot” really? Did my Lord save me only to bring me to a place to see me destroyed? Does grace end just because I cannot see what it offers next? Do I let my own fears replace gratitude for grace extended?

“Behold now” really? Lord you haven’t thought this out, let me point out a few things. Really, is that any way to treat my Lord? Do I trust my own wisdom above His?

“My soul shall live” really? And what makes him/me think I am not living now?

Do I see myself in any of this according to my present circumstance? The answer is for me to find, much as it is for everyone else.

What I see in myself is what I do not see in Lot. Grace extended. Lot is not alone in these verses, his daughters are with him. There is no mention of them, only about himself, his own concerns. He has received grace but has not extended it to his daughters.

2 Corinthians 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

I am not in this circumstance alone, but I look to my own without extending grace to my fellow traveler.

But that’s just me.

Ephesians 1:13a,b In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, …

I find it curious that this verse shows a clear indication that trust was established before the “word of truth” was heard. So many times we hear or have been involved in witnessing to unbelievers about the offer of salvation offered thru Jesus Christ and are met with hostility, rejection and personal attacks. Is it possible that this happens because we forgot the first principle of witnessing? Trust must first be established before our words will carry any weight in a conversation. It comes down to this one truism.

“Show me what you’ve got.”

1 Corinthians 2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

So often we think that all we have to do is speak the truth and the truth will do the work. In some cases it does but I suspect that the truth rings true to those whose ears it falls upon because someone else has laid the foundation of trust in those lives.

I have only a few friends that knew me back when. Few because what I was drove people away. The people I know now have no idea what I was like before I surrendered to Christ. They know me now, they have a measure of trust and respect in who I am today. They are willing to accept that I have changed, my witness is accepted by them because like me, Jesus changed their lives.

Not everyone I know trusts me. I have not proven myself to them yet. Even my first wife and children took a year to come to believe I had changed and they lived with me every day. Trust does not come just because I say “Trust me!”

“Show me what you’ve got.”