Devotional Guide, Today’s Reading Monday, 7th October, 2024

Comment: The Holy Scriptures uses the words “filthy lucre”, “gift”, “unrighteous mammon”, “silver”, “gold”, etc., as descriptive terms for the benefits and trappings which this sinful world has to offer. They are ephemeral, but the righteousness of God is “profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” (1 Timothy 4:8) In a failed attempt to keep track with the glamours of a falling city behind, while exiting same city for the mountain ahead, Lot’s wife ended up losing both. Idolatry therefore goes beyond idol worship but is inclusive of giving priority to things that add no value to our spiritual upliftment, while devoting lesser time to theocratic matters. Unlike Ruth who was steadfastly minded to stick to the God of her mother in-law, Lot’s wife was stuck between her destination and Sodom she was leaving behind. St. Paul had asked: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” – Romans 6:16; 1 John 2:15-17.