Genesis chapter 19

16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them.

It is so easy to become comfortable with our lives, with the people around us, their language and their behaviour. Life is often one big compromise as we adapt to those around us, the people we work with, our friends and our family.

Here, Lot and his family had been living in Sodom for so long that they had become used to the morals and lifestyle of the inhabitants of the city. It was no surprise to Lot when the men of the city surrounded his house demanding the two men so he offered up his two daughters if the men would leave the visitors alone.

I cannot understand that at all. I mean, how could any man do that to his own daughters ? I know there is the tradition of hospitality in the East, where it is seen as a reflection of a person's reputation but surely there are limits to how far you have to go to show hospitality?

It may well be that Lot had some grand scheme in mind whereby he could save both the men and his daughters, maybe his daughters' fiancés were with the men outside the house and he thought they would save the girls. Maybe he thought the offer of girls would put the men off (since they were interested in the men only) and they would go away. Whatever his reasoning, he had become comfortable living in Sodom, and was used to the way of life of the people there. He had compromised his principles for the sake of comfortable living.

And it is just as easy for us to do this today. Take a look around at the world we live in, with the abortions, the crime, the drugs, the rising divorce rate and children born out of wedlock. Sex is a way of life for many whether they married or unmarried, same sex partners is becoming more common, and there is just so much sin and evil in the world. We need to make a stand, to let the light of Christ shine through all that we do so that when trouble arises, people will know exactly what we believe in because we have not compromised our principles in order to lead a quiet life.

When Lot took a stand, told his daughters' fiancés what was going to happen, they did not believe him. Will people believe us when we make a stand or will they scoff too, seeing us as behaving no differently from them all this time?