She had left her heart behind her!

(J. C. Ryle, "The Gospel of Luke" 1858)

"Remember Lot's wife!" Luke 17:32

Observe what a solemn warning our Lord gives us against unsound profession.

Lot's wife went far in religious profession. She was the wife of a "righteous man." She was connected through him with Abraham, the father of the faithful. She fled with her husband from Sodom in the day when he escaped for his life by God's command.

But Lot's wife was not really like her husband. Though she fled with him, she had left her heart behind her! She willfully disobeyed the strict injunction which the angel had laid upon her. She looked back towards Sodom, and was at once struck dead. She was turned into a pillar of salt, and perished in her sins!

"Remember" her, says our Lord, "Remember Lot's wife!"

Lot's wife is meant to be a beacon and a warning to all professing Christians. It may be feared that many will be found like her in the day of Christ's second coming. There are many in the present day who go a certain length in religion. They conform to the outward ways of Christ's true people. They speak the "language of Canaan." They use all the outward ordinances of religion. But all this time their souls are not right in the sight of God. The world is in their hearts — and their hearts are in the world!

Their Christianity will prove rotten at the core!

Let us remember Lot's wife, and resolve to be real in our religion. A mere formal religion will never save our souls. Let us serve Christ for His own sake. Let us never rest until we have the true grace of God in our hearts, and have no desire to look back to the world.

"Remember Lot's wife!" Luke 17:32