Righteous in Our Generation

“Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.” –Genesis 6:9

I think it’s very easy just to blow past this verse in your reading, but I think maybe it would be a good idea to pause and actually think about it.

Think about Noah’s generation. It was described as “corrupt in God’s sight” and “filled with violence.” (Genesis 6:11). Some of the things that made it corrupt were things like sexual immorality, idol worship and many other sins. These sins grieved God to the point that He says He regretted having made men, and He sends a flood to destroy them.

Except Noah and His family.

Because Noah was righteous.

Imagine how hard that must have been. He wasn’t like everyone else. He wasn’t “mainstream” as the world today may call it. He trusted God, even to the point of building this enormous ark because God had told him too. I severely doubt that someone building a huge boat in their backyard went unnoticed or un-ridiculed. And yet he persevered and God rescued him.

I think we could all learn from Noah. I really do believe that we live in a generation every bit as corrupt as Noah’s. The world is filled with sexual immorality, violence and murder, abortion, theft, and lies. And though we don’t worship carven images, we definitely have our fair share of idol worshiping. And those idols are ourselves. We worship ourselves above anything else. As Christians, we are called to go against this.

Christ calls us in Matthew 5 to be the salt and light of the world. We are called to be different, to stand out. Matthew 5:14-6 says, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Brothers and sisters, we are called to be different. We are not called to hide behind the masks of the world. There shouldn’t be such a thing as a secret Christian.

I’m not saying it will be easy. We will be tested by our peers and likely ridiculed for who we are. And we will fail too. As humans, we will mess up. That’s when we go to Christ for forgiveness. And He will always accept us.

Expect ridicule and from some people, hatred. But, in the scope of eternity, do those things really matter? Christ tells us to store up for ourselves treasure in heaven, and not on earth. He says that whatever treasures we have on earth will be destroyed, but whatever we store up in heaven will be ours forever. Isn’t that something to live for?

So I ask you, believer, are you willing to live differently for Christ? Are you willing to be like Noah, righteous in our generation?