Location, Location, Location

I have a confession to make. I'm addicted to a show on HGTV called Property Virgins. The basis of the show is that the host, Sandra, takes a couple, who are looking to buy their first home, and shows them several homes and then guides them through the process of making an offer and closing on the home. She always starts the show in the couples "dream" neighborhood, the one place they would absolutely love to buy a home in. She then will ask them what they think a home similar to what they were looking for sells for in that neighborhood. It always surprises the couple how much the home would sell for, usually 3 to 4 times the amount they can afford. And Sandra always tells the couple the reason for the price is location, location, location. And she is right, location is a prime factor in real estate prices.

I began thinking about the phrase "location, location, location" as I was reading in Genesis, continuing my study by reading Genesis 13. Abram and Sarai are back in the land that God had promised to Abram and his nephew, Lot, was with him. But the land could not support both Abram's and Lot's vast livestock holdings. This caused problems between the two and their herdsman. Abram, not wanting the quarreling to continue, agreed to let Lot choose an area of land for himself and then Abram was going to go in the opposite direction. So Lot chose the most fertile land with plenty of water known as the plain of Jordan. And Abram went the opposite direction to the land of Canaan.

So here was Lot with arguably the best land in the whole region. He had numerous places within this land that he could have located, but he chose to settle near Sodom. Now we all know the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom was filled with men who "were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord" (verse 13). So the question begs, why would Lot locate here. The temptations coming from such a place as Sodom had to have been great, probably irresistible. He has many other areas within the same fertile region he could live but he placed himself near this temptation, much to his detriment.

Abram is a different story however. The Lord told Abram to look in all directions and all the land that he could see would belong to him and his offspring. In this land he set up his camp at the great tree near Hebron, and here built an altar to the Lord. Abram was definitely walking in obedience to the Lord and the Lord was going to bless him and his children and his children's children. At this point in his journey he was clearly focused on God and God's promises and planned to worship Him and thus settled in an area that he felt was perfect for this.

But I realized, it's the same in my life as in Lot's. Why do I find myself sometimes in locations close to temptation? It's not because I don't have other productive locations that I can be. But I chose to set up camp within temptations grasp. I should however be more like Abram and strive to be obedient to God's calling in my life and place myself, not within temptation's grasp, but in the more fertile, productive area of God's altar, worshiping Him and working to fulfill His promises for my life. Sandra is right...location, location, location.