📖 People Over Possessions: Lot's Wife Teaches Us About What Really Matters

What would you grab if you had sixty seconds to leave your home forever?

It's a question most of us have never had to answer. We did during the California Wildfires. And Lot's wife did too. And her answer — told not in words but in one devastating backward glance — cost her everything.

Lot's wife had a home. A life. Possessions. A community she had built in Sodom. And when God said go — she couldn't resist one last look at everything she was leaving behind.

And in that one moment of looking back, she was gone.

Now before we shake our heads at Lot's wife — Rhonda wants us to look in the mirror first.

Because if we're honest?

We do it too.

We look back at the comfort we've lost. The life we planned. Things we thought we deserved. Stuff we accumulated can quietly become more important than our obedience to God.

And Rhonda's phrase for this episode will stay with you long after it's over —

"People over possessions."

IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL DISCOVER:

• The sobering story of Lot's wife and the one backward glance that changed everything
• Why God's command to not look back was about so much more than direction — it was about the condition of her heart
• The powerful phrase Rhonda returns to again and again: "People over possessions"
• How our attachment to comfort, stuff, and security quietly competes with our obedience to God
• The liberating truth that when we choose people over possessions — we gain something no stuff could ever give us

KEY SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:

• Genesis 19 — The story of Lot's wife
• Luke 17:32 — "Remember Lot's wife" 
• Matthew 6:19-21 — "Store up treasures in heaven"
• Luke 12:15 — "Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions"

RHONDA'S KEY PHRASE FOR THIS EPISODE: "People over possessions."

Write it on a sticky note. Let it be the filter through which you make decisions this week and always.

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

📚 Moms of the Bible: Life-Changing Lessons from the Fearless, Flawed and Faithful — Rhonda Stoppe Available at NoRegretsWoman.com and wherever books are sold

🎙️ Watch all Moms of the Bible chapter teachings FREE on Rhonda's YouTube Channel Rhonda Stoppe No Regrets Woman (Watch This episode Here)

📩 Sign up for Rhonda's monthly newsletter and receive a FREE download of Chapter 1 of Moms of the Bible at NoRegretsWoman.com

SHARE THIS EPISODE with the mom in your life who needs permission to let go — of the stuff, the plans, the backward glance — and run forward into everything God has for her.

Because the life God is calling you toward is always better than the one you're looking back at.

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"This podcast is for the purpose of mentoring only and is not a replacement for therapy. We suggest you seek out the help of a trained biblical counselor for help with your specific situation.”

Transcript

Rhonda Stoppe [00:00:02]:
Hi, friends. I'm so excited that you're still with me going through the book Moms of the Bible. We are in the second section that's talking about the flawed moms. We did the fearless, and now we're on the section about flawed moms. And today we're going to talk about chapter six, when your stuff matters more than obeying God. And we're talking about Lot's wife. If you've read the chapter, then you know the story. Lot and his wife had moved themselves right into to the center of Sodom, where we get the word sodomy from that city.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:00:37]:
It was such a perverted city. In fact, it was so perverted that God told Abraham, I am going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And Abraham knew that his nephew and his family lived there. So Abraham tried to intercede for Lot. He asked God, what if there's only this many? What if there's only this many righteous in this? We spare it. If there's this many righteous. And he gets down to 10, and he asks God, if there are 10 righteous people in this city, will you spare the city? And God said, For 10, I will. And there wasn't even 10.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:01:10]:
So God sends angels in to Sodom because God wanted to rescue Lot and his family from judgment. And I love that. If you look through history, we're actually studying the book of Revelation right now in my Wednesday night Bible study. And we're in the section of Revelation 12 and 13 where it talks about Israel and in that time of the tribulation where it just gets so horrible, and yet God protects his people even in that time. So what happened? These angels come and they're going to sleep in the square. And Lot's like, dude, no, come stay with me. And they reason is because Lot knows the men of the city will want to commit sexual acts with them. That's how perverted this city was where Lot was living.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:01:55]:
It's where he was raising his family. And when I think about that story, I just cannot help but think, how did Lot get get to this point? You know, he had left and come with his Uncle Abram when they left and came to the city that God would show them. And then their animals, there were too many, and the servants were fighting over the land. So what did Lot say? I mean, what did Abraham say to Lot? Abram said to Lot, you choose the land and I'll take the other. And Lot chose the best, best land for himself. And then you find Lot camped near the cities of Sodom. And Gomorrah. And then you find him in the city of Gomorrah.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:02:36]:
And if you read in Scripture, what also happened at that time was at one point, one of Lot's servants escaped and went to Abram and said, they have taken Lot and his family and the people from Sodom and Gomorrah. They've taken. They've taken them away as. As slaves. And Abraham rallied his troops and he went and he rescued lots of. And he rescued Lot's wife and his daughters and his children. Now, you would think that that could have been a wake up call for Mr. And Mrs.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:03:07]:
Lott. You would think that they could have said, you know what? Time out. We are living in a dangerous place, a place that is not where God's people should be, and we need to get out and let's go back up and live by Uncle Abram. But they didn't. They went right back into it. Went right back into the city. They loved it. Now, before you think I'm telling you you should not live in an unrighteous, ungodly city or state, let me tell.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:03:31]:
I raised my kids in California, and I was born and raised in California. We moved to Texas for five and a half years and we got to plant a church. And it was glorious. The schools were great. The church was flourishing. We were so happy to stay right there and minister in this church plant. People were coming to Jesus and it was amazing. And yet God called us back to California.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:03:55]:
Our oldest son, Tony, had just graduated from college and was going into the Air Force. Meredith was a junior in high school. Brandon was in middle school. Kayla was in fifth grade, I think. And God called us back. I didn't want to come back. It's a difficult place to raise children. And if you're in California, my heart is with you.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:04:12]:
Call me up. I will come speak at your women's events. Because people are fleeing this state right and left, and I'm all about called to Cali. God called us here, and as long as we're here, we are going to proclaim the gospel. Because as the dark gets darker, the light can become brighter. So don't lose hope. And I'm not telling you that the right thing to do is not raise your children somewhere like that. I get it.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:04:33]:
But Lot and his wife went right back into the center of that city. And when those angels were pulled into Lot's house and those men came banging on the door because they wanted to have relations with these angels, what did Lot do? Lot didn't even understand how These angelic hosts could protect themselves. So Lot, in his reasoning, because he had been so influenced by the culture that he was living in, he calls them in brothers. Now I'm asking, did he really think he and his wife think these men were brothers, these evil men? Or was Lot trying to be political, persuade them, reason with them by calling them brothers? Whatever Lot's motive was, at least he had the courage to tell them that their behavior was wicked. But then Lot's skewed thinking is revealed in a horrific plan. He offers his two virgin daughters to the mob instead of the visitors. Listen to this. He says, behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:05:30]:
Let me bring them out to you and do to them as you please. What? Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof. Wow. Talk about a perverted mindset. Talk about how far Lot had come from the God of Abraham to think that his manipulative ploy is necessary to sacrifice the purity, the virginity of his precious daughters. My husband has daughters. He would throw himself out there and died to defend their honor, to defend their purity. What kind of a man offers his daughters? I don't understand that.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:06:07]:
He didn't even know that the power of these angelic hosts right in his home could have protected themselves. That's how skewed his thinking was. But I want to talk about Mrs. Lott, because Mrs. Lott is in the middle of all of this. And here they are with angelic warriors in their very home. And Mary, she did not. Mrs.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:06:25]:
Lott, we don't know her first name, did not even recognize God's intervention. Lot and his wife missed the safety that they could have had if they only had turned to God instead of relying on their own demented attempts to resolve their dilemma. I don't know about you, Mama, but I've been there when things seem so out of hand and we want to jump in and be the puppet master and move things around and be manipulative or try to orchestrate circumstances to have a better outcome. If you're a child of the most high God, that is where the power lies. You cannot change circumstances that are coming against you. God can. And instead of trying to manipulate or come up with a way that, you know, even if it's lying, you know, the world doesn't really say lying is that big of a deal. Lying.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:07:13]:
God called Satan a liar, and you are the father, your devil. He said that to the. To the Pharisees, to the religious leaders. Lying is never okay to lie to Try to get out of trouble is never okay. In fact, integrity is doing what is right, no matter what the cost. So if you're someone who has a tendency to lie, let me just challenge you right now to lay that at the foot of the cross, to repent of that and to be someone who said, let your yay be a and your nay be nay. And I know I'm kind of chasing a rabbit on this one, but I was raised by a mom that's kind of twisted the truth and always kind of worked her way around things to get things to go the way she wanted them to go. I was raised with that.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:07:53]:
That was familiar to me. So I grew up thinking that was normal behavior and that it wasn't so wrong. And it wasn't until God really revealed to me how familiar I was with those practices when I was in. I think I was in junior high or high school that God convicted me of that. So let me just tell you today, if you're trying to rescue your family or rescue yourself or rescue a circumstance by using your own devices, let today be the last day that you do that. Let today be the day that you recognize the intervention of the Lord and not expect your manipulation to rescue you from a circumstance that seems out of control. Nothing's out of control. God is always in control.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:08:35]:
The next thing about Mrs. Lott is she resisted God's warning. Even after the horrific night in Sodom when the mob wanted to accost the angels and Lot's family hesitated to leave. At one point, the family, they lingered so long that the angels, mercifully, it says, seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand and dragged them out of the city. And that's when the angel clearly warned, escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the Valley. Genesis 19. Now, before you start thinking that you would have handled this differently, let's back up and think about Mrs.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:09:08]:
Lott, left behind her treasured home, left behind possibly two daughters, at least for sure, her sons in law. Some commentators believe that the daughters that were married to the sons in law stayed behind, and they also would be burned up with this destruction because Lot went to the people. He went to his family, and he said, we got to go. The angels are saying, it's going to be destroyed. And these young men and his daughters that were not the ones that fled with him did not even believe his warning. Let me ask you something. How do you live? Do you live in light of a truth that when you proclaim the warnings from God's, word. The prophecies that say the end is coming.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:09:48]:
The prophecies that proclaim that this life is not all there is, that we are here for a season, but Jesus is coming back. When you proclaim those prophecies to your children, to your grandchildren, do they take you seriously? Or do they, tongue in cheek, think you're that crazy, crazy lady with those religious beliefs? We have to live what we believe. Live what we believe with a sense of urgency. Mrs. Lott did not do that. Mrs. Lott did not live what she believed. And when the city was destroyed, she looked back and she turned to a pillar of salt.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:10:24]:
I'm going to tell you this. The time is near. Would your family believe your warnings of doom? Similar to the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. We are in a day of reckoning that's coming soon for all mankind. I told you, I'm studying the Book of Revelation. Have you considered the urgency that we face in light of Jesus Christ's second coming? Your unbelieving family members have no idea of the doom that they are awaiting that's awaiting humanity. Without Christ, friend, do you live in a way that is urgent to tell your children, your family members, how seriously that you want to alert them of those Bible prophecies of Christ coming? Do you urgently proclaim the hope of the Gospel to them? Do your kids see you having an urgency, a compassion on others to tell them about Jesus second coming? Now, before you think I'm skewing this and going a different direction, when we were just talking about Mrs. Lott, understand this, that Jesus himself, in Luke 17, he said he's talking about when the disciples were asking Jesus, you know, about his return.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:11:22]:
And he says, as the flashes of lightning and lights from the sky from one side of the earth to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But for he must first suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Just as in the days of Noah, so it will be in the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and giving and being given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as was in the days of Lot, you see that Jesus is literally using this as an example. They were eating and drinking and buying and selling and planting and building. But on the day when lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. So it will be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:12:03]:
On that day, let the one who is on the housetop with his goods in his house not come down to take them away. And likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife? That's what Jesus just said. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. Trying to remember the quote from Jim Elliott, who gave up his life to be a missionary. And what did he say is something about a man is not a fool who gives up. Well, he can't keep to man. I'm butchering that quote, but you understand what I'm saying? The Jim Elliott quote.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:12:35]:
I'm gonna look it up because it's very important to me. Hey, Siri, what's the Jim Elliott quote about losing your life? He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that that which he cannot lose. I'm going to say that again. He is who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. At the time of this filming, it's only been a month since Charlie Kirk was martyred for his sound belief in the Gospel. It's our turn. It's a season when God's asking us to live with boldness to proclaim the hope of the gospel, to not shy away and to not love this life more than the life to come. Whoever keeps whoever loves his life more is going to lose it.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:13:26]:
When we were in Texas, we planted a church, we opened our home, and 200 teenagers just converged on our house. And these kids were coming to Jesus. And I got to tell you something. This was back before we had social media. We weren't emailing, we weren't knocking on doors. I don't even know how these kids ended up at our house. We just opened our home and started making hot dogs. Steve made over 10,000 hot dogs in one year.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:13:47]:
And these kids showed up and these kids who were raised in the Bible Belt started realizing they knew about Jesus, but they didn't know Jesus. And they started repenting and coming to Christ. And in that, their parents saw the life change and their parents started coming to Christ and our church flourished. But what was happening in our house with those 200 teenagers? They were trashing it in Jesus name, brand new house, white carpet, our furniture was torn up and they were eating hot dogs, dropping mustard and ketchup on my white floors. And I gotta tell you, it meant so much to them. I always say people over possessions. The fact that we opened our home to them, that we let them come week after week and we shared the hope of the Gospel and a cry, you guys. That was just an amazing season in our life.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:14:31]:
And guess who was watching? Our children. Our kids were watching that we cared more about the lost souls of their friends and of those teenagers than we did about our beautiful home. People over possessions. Don't be like Lot's wife. Don't have to have someone drag you out. Don't look back at the things of this life. Keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:14:59]:
Our mind's set on eternity, not on earthly things. And if you live like that, Mama, if you desperately ask God to give you eyes for eternity and ask you to let go of the things in this life that will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace, God will do it. And not only will it transform you, but your children and now your children's children will see how desperately you want God to use you in this generation to rescue lost souls. And if you live like that, Mama, I promise you, you will have no regrets. And your children will rise up and call you blessed. And then you will hand the baton to them as they run their race with their eyes on Jesus, spreading the hope of the Gospel in their generation. Thanks so much for joining me. I hope you got something out of this.

Rhonda Stoppe [00:15:49]:
I know I did. I'm on fire right now. Have a great day. I'll see you in chapter seven.