Are we thermometers or thermostats? Would the people of God in our culture be more representative of the culture or agents of transformation within it? Remember the analogy of the frog in the kettle. Incremental temperature changes did not alarm the frog. At any point it could have jumped out of the kettle. Instead, it was lulled to sleep by the slow temperature change until it was literally cooked.
For the sake of acquisition of wealth, Lot chose the favorable commercial opportunities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Did Lot change Sodom or did Sodom change Lot? Lot opposed the wicked intentions of his neighbors to harm his guests. Unfortunately in this story, he protected his guests but offered his daughters in their place. Wait. What? Clearly, Lot was not thinking clearly in this matter. His neighbors were angry that he stood between them and those whom they wanted to harm. Lot could not save his visitors, but in the end they saved him by pulling him back inside the house and striking the men of the city blind.
Jesus told his disciples that they were the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16). Salt and light transform their environment. How are we doing with this? Have we lost our saltiness? Are we more like mood lighting or like the Sun? Vance Havner said, "We are not going to move this world by criticism of it nor conformity to it, but by combustion within it of lives ignited by the Spirit of God." We can change the world. But first God must change us. Let's be thermostats instead of thermometers.
