Most would agree that creamy chocolate is a delectable treat. Yum! How I love letting a Hershey kiss melt in my mouth! On the other hand, I do not want to let an onion melt in my mouth. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind onions; they serve a purpose in cooking by drawing out flavors, but I’m not dicing up a smelly onion and putting it in my candy dish any time soon.
Lot is an interesting Bible character. This saved man, (II Peter 2:6-8) who is referred to as “just Lot,” chose a worldly path for himself and his family. Salvation was not the problem, sanctification was. He knew the God of Israel, but was not devoted to Him. When faced with a life-altering choice, Lot relied on his eyes, choosing the glitter of Sodom rather then a close walk with God. Before long, he found himself dwelling among a sinful people, exposing his family to those worldly, heathen influences. He gained a high position in the government of Sodom, sitting at the gate. His choice not to live a separated life may have advanced him financially and politically, but it destroyed his testimony and doomed his family. When spiritual guidance was needed by his family, “he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law;” his integrity was gone, his influence was neutralized.
As an object lesson employed to teach this deep lesson on separation to young children, I used a Hershey kiss to represent Lot and a bag of chopped onions (STRONG ONES) to represent the city of Sodom. I placed that delectable kiss into the bag of onions and squished it around a bit. While the children looked on, I let that kiss absorb the character of the surrounding onions. When the process was complete, the Hershey kiss remained a kiss, but NO ONE, including me, wanted to chew on it. It smelled like onions now; the onions had distorted the flavor and the aroma of that delicate kiss. So it is with us. Once we have placed our trust in the sin-cleansing blood of Christ, we are born again-FOREVER! God does not take back His free gift when we fail Him; His salvation is not dependent on us, it is all Jesus, we will always remain a Hershey kiss, our position in Him is sealed. But God does ask of us a separated life, that is how we honor Him. If we insist on living, looking, and acting like the unsaved world which surrounds us, our flavor becomes distorted, our aroma becomes odious, our testimony clouded, and our impact on a lost and dying world feeble at best. We have to live in the world, but let’s not dwell there.
II Corinthians 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the LORD…
Lord, help me to live a separated life and to exhibit a clear testimony to a lost world. I am in the world, but I do not need to mimic the world. Help my light to shine through a separated and clean life.