5) The Eternal One saw that wickedness was rampaging throughout the earth and that evil had become the first thought on every mind, the constant purpose of every person. 6-7) At that point God’s heart broke, and He regretted having ever made man in the first place. Eternal One: I know what I’ll do. I will wipe humanity, My special creation, from the face of the earth—humans, animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I ever made them. 8)But there was one person whom the Lord could not let go of—Noah—because this man pleased Him. 9) Here is the account of Noah and his descendants. Noah was a good man, a right living man, the best man of his generation; and he walked closely with God. 10) Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11-12) They lived at a time when the world had become vile and corrupt. Violence was everywhere. God saw that the earth was in ruins, and He knew why: all people on earth except Noah had lived corrupt lives and ruined God’s plan for them. He had to do something. – Genesis 6:5-12 The Voice

Noah’s Ark. We’ve heard the story time and time again since we were children. We’re someone knowledgeable and very familiar with the plot. Oh, familiarity. It can be a dangerous thing. It can cause us to overlook a new fresh idea or concept that the Lord wants us to grasp.

Yesterday, while reading some online articles I saw that Nelson Bibles is releases a new version of the bible this month called “The Voice” and it reads more like a story making it easy to understand. And if you know me, you know that I love bibles and different translations because I like to make the word easy to understand by everyone. I believe we can be more effective at sharing the gospel that way. Anyway, since the whole bible isn’t released yet the site allowed me to get a free download of one of the Old Testament books. I chose Genesis and began to read and I fell in love with the translations. I wouldn’t recommend it as your main study bible but it is a great addition.

I got the story of Noah and contemplated skimming by it but the verses included above caught my attention.

I hear so many people use the times and society as reasons why they can’t be a Christian or why it’s too hard to serve Jesus with everything they have but check out Verses 5, 11, and 12. Doesn’t the Earth’s human condition sound a lot like present day conditions. It might have even been worse. I mean, God was so upset, the only way He could fix it properly was to wipe everyone out.

I can only imagine how upset God had to be in order to come up with that solution. I mean these were people who He had created personally. They looked just like Him (they were created in His image) and he had planned perfect and specific destinies for each and every one of them and now they had gotten so wild that He had no choice but to destroy them.

He had to destroy everyone except Noah because Noah was upright and just and served God. Verse 8 is the heavy hitter for me. It says that Noah was someone who God just couldn’t let go of because He was pleased with him.

That is so amazing to me. Noah stood out in a world of evil and hate and because of that choice, God couldn’t and didn’t let go of Him.

It’s not saying Noah was perfect or that he wasn’t affected by the people around him. It’s not saying that he didn’t want to be included or fit in. It’s saying that Noah made a choice to live for God and that was the right choice.

We have that same choice today. In a world full of violence, hate, disobedience, and sin we have a choice not to participate. We have the choice to live our lives for God no matter the surroundings.

Living for Jesus today is a lose-win-win situation. You get to lose your sin and getting caught up in everyday foolishness, and you win eternal life and the testimony that God just can’t let you go.

Noah was a man just like you and I, living in a world just like you and I, possible worse. We have the same opportunity as Noah did. Today, we can choose to live our lives for the purpose of pleasing Christ.

Be encouraged. It’s possible to be a radical Christian with an awesome relationship with Christ, today. Of course we can’t do it on our own, but with God all things are possible. God’s grace will take us exactly where He has called us to be.

Stand up and Stand out for Christ.

In love,

C.B.