Rev. Katie Montgomery Mears

5-7 Lot, who was traveling with Abram, was also rich in sheep and cattle and tents. But the land couldn’t support both of them; they had too many possessions. They couldn’t both live there—quarrels broke out between Abram’s shepherds and Lot’s shepherds. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living on the land at the time.

8-9 Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have fighting between us, between your shepherds and my shepherds. After all, we’re family. Look around. Isn’t there plenty of land out there? Let’s separate. If you go left, I’ll go right; if you go right, I’ll go left.”

10-11 Lot looked. He saw the whole plain of the Jordan spread out, well watered (this was before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah), like God’s garden, like Egypt, and stretching all the way to Zoar. Lot took the whole plain of the Jordan. Lot set out to the east. That’s how they came to part company, uncle and nephew. 

 

Reflection:
Like many of us, I tend to think I am right a lot (most? all?) of the time. Ask my husband and he will back that up — not that I am actually right, but my assessment that I think I am right. What follows from that is my desire to end up on top in an argument. I don’t want to walk away feeling like I’ve been forced to concede or like I’ve had to give anything up to bring the conflict to a resolution. I certainly don’t relish blessing the person with whom I’m disagreeing.

 

I just read an article in the paper about a local Houston business whose visionary leader decided to leave and focus on another project, leaving the company he started in hands of his partner. We’ll probably never know what went on behind the scenes that got them to this point, but both parties released statements that were generous, supportive, and kind. In their separation, they blessed each other.

 

That’s what we see Abram doing in this passage from Genesis. After the famine, he and Lot returned to Canaan but it quickly became apparent that they had too many possessions and livestock to be able to live together. Keep in mind that Abram was the one called from Ur to go to Canaan and lead a great nation. The land was his. He didn’t have to give any of it to his nephew Lot. But their shepherds were fighting and Abram saw that it might lead to a familial split if he didn’t get ahead of it.

 

He didn’t wait for Lot to notice the issue and approach him. He went to Lot to solve the problem. That’s humility. And he didn’t parcel out the least fertile piece of land and give it to Lot. He gave Lot a choice, and then he accepted it when Lot chose the well-watered portion, which was the best. That’s generosity.

In Philippians 2, Paul tells us not to do anything selfishly but to always think more of others than ourselves and to watch out for what is best for other people. He shows us what this looks like by including an early hymn that describes Jesus as pouring himself out for us — in other words, Jesus humbled himself to death on a cross in order to put us first.

 

For whom do you need to humble yourself and be generous? Who do you need to put above yourself today?

 

Prayer:

Loving God, thank you for Abram’s example of sacrificial love and kindness. Help us to see the places in our lives where we are being greedy and to release them so that we might lead with generosity instead. Amen.