GENESIS: Faith at Work by the Choices We Make; "Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom."

Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. (Genesis 13:1) 

Abram, his wife, Sarai and his nephew, Lot traveled from their home land of Ur to Haran.  But God had told Abram to go to the promised land of Canaan, so they left Haran and went there; And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel [future Bethlehem], and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. (Genesis 12:8) 

But when a famine was in the land, instead of staying there, he chose on his own to go down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. (Genesis 12:10) God did not tell him to do that, nor did he do what was pleasing to God when he went there, and eventually Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had. (Genesis 12:20) 

Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord. (Genesis 13:2-4)

Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land. (Genesis 13:5-7) 

So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.” (Genesis 13:8-9) 

And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord. (Genesis 13:10-13) 

Lot did what most of us do, based our decisions on how things look without taking the time to really find out how they are. The land looked looked good, but the people in the land were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4) Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (I John 2:15-17)

And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.” (Genesis 13:14-17) 

What a testimony to Abram's faith in God, that past the age of seventy-five years old (Genesis 12:4), he still obeyed God's Word and believed God, that he would have descendants, considering his wife, Sarai was barren; she had no child. (Genesis 11:30) Abram was not perfect, but “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” [Genesis 15:6] (Romans 4:3) For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. (Romans 4:13) 

...but he who does the will of God abides forever. And that's exactly what God promised Abram, and will do for us also.  Abram nor anyone else after was saved because of what he did, but because of in Whom he believed. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. (Romans 4:2) Our works can never be good enough to reconcile us to God. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

But because we have accepted God free gift of salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, then we should also produce good works; For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10) But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? ... For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (James 2:20-26)

Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord. (Genesis 13:18)