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Lessons in Family Leadership from Lot
by ETURUVIE EREBOR Lot was Abraham's nephew and apparently Abraham was very fond of him because when he left his father's house, he took Lot with him. Both men travelled together until they became so wealthy the land in which they sojourned could no longer contain them and Lot relocated to Sodom. The men of Sodom were wicked and so God decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah; however, angels were sent to bring Lot and his family safely out of the land. Lot was unable to leave the land with his entire family; he had married daughters who could not make the trip because their husbands, his sons-in-laws, disbelieved and mocked him when he spoke of the impending doom. He left the land with his wife and two unmarried daughters but he may as well have left alone because from the actions of his wife and daughters it was clear Lot really had no one following him; the wife and daughters although with him physically, never really left Sodom. His wife looked back in the direction of Sodom disobeying clear orders that had been given them and she became a pillar of salt. Then the daughters who obviously possessed the spirit of Sodom took turns having sexual intercourse with their father. The question is what went wrong with this family? The answer is Lot failed his family; he failed to rise up to his God-given position of leader in his family. He failed to take charge. He did not communicate a family vision to his wife and because she had nothing to look forward to she thought what was behind was better and turned back. He did not have a plan for his family after the death of his wife and other daughters and so his surviving daughters took the reins of leadership and created an incestuous plan. If a man will not lead his family, someone else will. A man is a spiritual leader and it is his responsibility to lead his family to God. Lot failed in this task. His wife turned back from following him; his daughters were married to men who did not know God, his unmarried daughters had obviously picked up the evil character of the people in Sodom. These all point to the fact that Lot was an ineffective leader. Like Lot, many men around the world have failed in their role as leaders of their family; some have no family vision to begin with and those who do, either fail to communicate it or make it clear to the followers (the wife and children) thus, there is no buy-in and like Lot's family there is no congruence and everyone goes off doing their own thing. As father's day is celebrated today, I pray that men everywhere will honestly evaluate themselves and admit where they have made mistakes and put things right. Your family is counting on you and so is the entire world. Remember that the family is the smallest unit of society and if fathers get it right by leading their families effectively, societal vices as we know them will be curbed. Happy Fathers Day. Eturuvie Erebor (AKA Gabriella) is a writer, speaker, trainer and coach with a strong passion to transform the lives of women and youth not only in her native country, Nigeria and the United Kingdom, where she was born, but all across the world. She has spoken to women and youth groups in churches, Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |