Pitching Your Tent

Where have you positioned yourself in life?  Step back and look where you are today.  Our lives are typically the result of an accumulation of the choices we have made.  As a result, we are living a lifestyle that mirrors the direction we have pitched our tent.  In the book of Genesis, we read about Abram and Lot. "Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord."  For those that don't know, Sodom and Gomorrah were cities that were destroyed because they were so full of evil.  The Lord couldn't find any righteous people in the land. We read in Genesis that Lot pitched his tents near Sodom.  Eventually, Lot moved into Sodom and before long Sodom moved into him.  

For many of us, the pulls of this world - including its pleasures, power, praise, money - have always been there.  Worldly lifestyles are reinforced by our rationalization, "everybody is doing it".  It is this same pull that causes us to pitch our tents in the direction of the ways of this world.  "Of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought in bondage." 2 Peter 2:19.  We don't even realize it sometimes, when we begin to compromise our lifestyles as we peek out our tents into the world.  We gradually get pulled away from true obedience to God.  This process can begin at any age.  Children chose friends who do things that aren't in God's perfect plan for their lives.  Before long, they are justifying what their friends are doing, have joined in and made it acceptable for themselves.  Even as adults, we adopt this behavior. We might have a friend who supports our poor decision making and as a result, we begin to place our tent in a position where a lifestyle of sin becomes acceptable.  I remember a time in my life when I was hungry for my friends to give me direction.  I would tell everyone my circumstance and then listen to their advice.  There was one friend, who refused to give me advice.  This was probably better than the "un-scriptural" advice that I got from many.  When you are setting up your tent, you must only seek God's word for guidance.  He is always going to help you position yourself in a way that looks to Him and not the ways of this world. Romans 12:2 "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will." 

When you look at your life, do you wonder how you got to such a place?  Well for Lot, he allowed Sodom to gradually become a part of who he was.  It is important for us to not allow the sin of this world to gradually become a part of who we are.  We must stop where we are and take a close look at our tents.   What do you see when you look out your tent flaps?  How have you positioned your life?  If you think you aren't facing in the direction of our Heavenly Father, you must reposition yourself.  All it takes is the desire to turn to Him...He is waiting.