"Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God."
righteous - upright and moral
blameless - having no guilt
Interesting definition of these two words. Puts a different light on this verse, doesn't it. Just reading the verse itself makes Noah sound kinda holier-then-thou, but that's not the case at all. To me, the catch phrase here is ". . . among the people of his time . . ." "Moses was upright and moral, having no guilt among the people of his time, . . ."
During the time of Noah, the people of the earth had reached such a state of corruption, lawlessness, violence, and immorality that God wiped the earth clean. Erased the blackboard. Tied everything up in a super-flex garbage bag and tossed it off into eternity. Have you ever done that with a project; completely destroyed it just so you could start over fresh? Back to the drawing board. But what made Noah special and set apart?
Noah was NOT sinless. He was a human man, with all the bumps, bruises and warts common to humanity. He sinned on a daily basis just as we do. He had a wife and children, therefore he had arguments. Maybe he got tippsy on too much wine. Maybe he grumbled and complained about the state of the world and the economy. He sinned. But what set Noah apart was the fact that he did not enter into the ways of the world. Instead, he walked and talked and shared his life with God on a daily basis. He purposely set his face on heavenly things and kept himself pure from the corruption of the world. Upright and Moral. Hard, hard work. And he required it of his family. MORE arguments, I'm sure!
6,000 years later, not much has changed. The world is becoming more corrupt, lawless, violent and immoral on a daily basis. Are we sinless? No more then Noah was. Can we be righteous and blameless? Absolutely! We simply become little Noahites and do not participate in the things of the world! Impossible, you say? No way. "ALL things are possible with God." Just like Noah, if we walk with God on a daily basis, in some cases minute-by-minute, we will be "upright and moral" and "have no guilt" among the people of OUR time. Genesis 6:22 says: "Noah did EVERYTHING jus as God commanded him."
And therein lies the secret: obedience. That's all. Just do what God says. Noah wholeheartedly loved and obeyed God. Just like King David. Just like the apostle Paul. And wow, did those guys sin. And yet, they were righteous and blameless. They walked with God. And they are our examples through eternity, the way they lived their lives influences us today. We are called to live IN the world, but not be OF the world. We are called to walk with God, be upright and moral and have no guilt among the people of our time!
What do people see when they observe your life? Do they see you walking with God? Are you influencing others or is the world influencing you?
"Lord Jesus, forgive me. Forgive all the sins of my life because I turned away from your face. Help me, Jesus, to keep my eyes on You and not on the world. I want to walk and talk with you all the moments of my life. Strengthen me with your Holy Spirit, enable me to be righteous and blameless among the people of my time, that others will see your glory and praise your Holy Name. Amen."
SUPPORTING SCRIPTURE:
Leviticus 19:2
1 John 5:3
Ephesians 5:2-4
Colossians 3:12
1 Thessalonians 3:13
4:7
2 Timothy 2:20-22
Hebrews 3:1
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