Do Not Linger

One of my favorite retirement past-times is a leisurely day with a friend: making a few shop-stops, having a good meal - I call it ... a'junkin' day. God’s mercy is seen in Scripture from cover-to-cover, but the first writing of the Hebrew "chemal" – root word meaning mercy – is found in the account of Lot, Abraham’s nephew at the pending destruction of Sodom. “As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.’ But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.” (Genesis 19:15-16). Lot was not in a hurry - he lingered! A portion of Copperhill, Tennessee is in Georgia and another portion is in Tennessee; You can literally straddle a line, having one foot in Georgia and one foot in Tennessee! A divided heart is a serious spiritual dilemma. It’s impossible to sincerely fear and serve a holy God while [at the same time] embracing worldly idols – anything put ahead of Christ.  God continuously extends His mercy, kindness, patience, love, compassion ... yet we linger to obey Him. He will not always tarry – the day of our casual lingering will end.  Joshua boldly proclaimed, “Choose this day whom you will serve … As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15).  How I love those junkin' days of lingering here-and-there; such a time of hesitantly lingering to be what God desires us to be is dangerously shorter than we can know. Be wise ... do not linger.