I’m a firm believer that we shouldn’t condemn others because we’ve not walked a mile in their shoes. We have absolutely no idea how we would respond in anyone else’s situations, for so many, many reasons. Their past is not ours. We are not them. The future that lies before them looks nothing like our own.

Unfortunately I’ve been on the receiving end of condemnation. Sadly, I have also dolled it out myself. I wish I could say that I haven’t, but it wouldn’t be the truth. I do strive each day to not condemn others. I teach my children to not look down on others and to remember that they don’t know what anyone is going through. It is my desire to personally consider and love, rather than to condemn. If, as a mother that is all I teach my children, then I will be truly thankful.

How many times have you heard or read, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah? I grew up in church from the time I was a babe, so I can’t even recall how many times I’ve heard it myself. I do know, that I’ve heard and read it many, many times over the years. Yet, it wasn’t until last week that God brought a character to mind in a much different light than I’d ever looked at them before.

“But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” (Genesis 19:26)

As Christians we don’t understand why Lot’s wife would look back on such a wicked place as Sodom and Gomorrah. God was giving her family such a great gift. Life. Life anew outside the walls of a city overcome with sin. All she had to do was leave it behind and never look back. A fresh start was within her grasp.

But she lost it all. Because of one backward glance.

I’ve shaken my head at this part of the story time and time again. I just couldn’t fathom why she couldn’t walk away. It didn’t make sense.

Until God gave me a glimpse of life through her eyes.

Home. One of the most important things in life to me.

I’m torn between two. The one I love is in Maine. Yet, I long to live back home in Texas, my home state.

Lot’s wife was from Sodom and Gomorrah. It was her home. She grew up there. Her family was from there. She was leaving her home behind. Everything she knew. To go somewhere she’d never been. Without her family…father, mother, brothers, sisters, grandparents…even her own children…

I’ve left my home behind. Alone. On my own. Without the family that I love so much. It was so painful. It still is more than a decade later…

Leaving, Lot’s wife knew that she wouldn’t be going back. Home wasn’t going to be there. It would be gone. She would never walk the streets of her hometown again. They would be only a memory.

I’m blessed that my husband not only knows, but understands how important Texas is to me. Every few years I get to go back home. A trip to see family and my hometown. A chance to take a walk down memory lane on Main Street.

Home. Somewhere we feel safe. A place where we are loved. Something that can’t truly be described in words. It must be felt.

Lot’s wife had to leave her home. There was so much more that lie ahead for her though she couldn’t see it. God had provided her the opportunity for a new home. All she had to do was give up the one she had.

Isn’t that what God is asking each of us? To give up the homes we have here on earth, by pursuing Him and His things, to prepare us for the home Jesus is making for us right now?

How is it that we can shake our heads and wonder how Lot’s wife couldn’t just keep her eyes ahead? After all, the prize lay before her.

Why do we condemn in her that which we do ourselves even today?

Christians, our prize lies right before us. Heaven. Home.

Where are your eyes gazing today? Are you looking towards home or are you focused on the here and now?

I will never look at Lot’s wife the same again, because I am her.

The home my heart desires lies ahead of me and yet I keep looking back at the one I miss here on this earth.

The next time you begin to condemn…I beg of you to take time to consider…

What does life look like through their eyes?