Righteous in His Generation

Genesis 6:5-8; 7:1 (NASB):

 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷ The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord...Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time."

      Have you ever thought that things could not get any worse? Believe or not, they have. When God singled out Noah to help keep human history afloat, He was asking him to be obedient in a world where everyone was "evil all the time." 

      If we are not careful, we can almost forget that Bible heroes like Noah were real. When Noah was faitfully building a boat longer than a football field, he had no idea his face would be on everything from weather vanes to wallpaper. Still, he preached God's grace against impending doom for 120 years without a single convert, wiping his neigbhors spit from his face for insinuating they were the ones who needed help. A superman would have made it look easy. It took an ordinary man to make it look like God.

     These days of darkness are also days of opportunity. But what makes them days of opprotunity is the power of light-of Christians on fire for the Kingdom of God-to pierce and dispel the darkness. Our cultural crisis is at the same time a cultural opprotunity.

     Jesus said of Himself, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12 NIV). Amazingly, He also said, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden" (Matthew 5:14 NIV). Of course, our light is totally dependent on His. He is "the true light that gives light to every man" (John 1:9 NIV).

     As Christians concerned about our culture (as all should be), we must ask ourselves, "How can I make the most of the opportunity that is before me to shine as Jesus would? How can I best treat the present crisis as an opportunity, and focus my beam into the present darkness?" 

     It needs to be said continually: the first task of every Christian is to be like Jesus. We are to give ourselves wholly to the pursuit of Christ likeness. We dare not urge in public life what our private lives deny. 

Apply: Ask yourself when you will finally be ready to forsake everything that keeps you from being faithful to God's calling on your life. If not now, when? 

Serving Christ, Loving Others, and Growing Together,
Dr. Bryan Cox