Verse of the day: Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Can we, as born again believers,
live righteously in such a dark, violent, and sinful world? What excuse could
we possibly have for not living holy before our God? Today, I would like us to
consider Noah; a man of God who lived during times that were not much different
than ours today. The world that Noah lived in was one that was filled with
giants who were mighty and fierce. There was much violence, and sin was
rampant. As a matter of fact, the world was so corrupt that verses 5-7 of this
chapter read as follows:
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the
thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. 6 And the Lord was
sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So
the Lord said, “I will
destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast,
creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
Yet, in the midst of such depravity, Noah found grace in the eyes
of our God. Why? What set Noah apart? Like Enoch, verse 9 tells us that Noah
walked with God. The verse also describes Noah as a just man, meaning that he
was a lawful man and one that had been justified and vindicated by God. He was
perfect in his generations, meaning that he had integrity, morally sincere, and
lived based on the godly truth he knew at that time. Above all, what justified
him before God was that he was a man of faith. Hebrew 11:7 reads this way:
By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen,
moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by
which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is
according to faith.
In the midst of a corrupt society,
Noah did not compromise his faith. He stood for what was right, he trusted God,
and obeyed God. He preached of the coming judgment, faithfully, even to those
who mocked him. 2 Peter 2:5 reads, “and did not spare the
ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the
world of the ungodly;” The bottom line for us today is that we have no
excuse for not living a life that honors God among those that are unrighteous,
unholy, sinful, wicked, and corrupt. Noah did not try to be like the wicked men
of his time just to win them or convince them. He stood his ground and preached
righteousness, and what was to come. In the end, only he, his family, and the animals
God instructed him to put in the ark, survived the judgment, and destruction,
of man at that time. Why then must we feel that we have to compromise our faith
by looking more like the world, and thinking that this is what will make us win
more people to Christ? Verse 5 tells us that God saw the wickedness of man in
those day, but at the same time he saw one who stood apart from them all, in
faith. In the end, Noah was faithful in doing what God called him to do, and
preached faithfully, even though no one listened. So, I ask us today, “What’s
our excuse?”
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