Let’s Make Someone truly Happy this Year!
Genesis 6:5-9
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. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 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.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.
The Bad News
Airplane accidents, war, the Ebola virus, deaths by flu, deaths by cancer, death by automobile accidents, shootings, demonstrations against police brutality, divorce, domestic violence, suicide, economic collapse—these are the headlines that we see on any given day. And oh yes, since this is January we can expect 20 below zero weather with wind and snow. The news is not good. How can anyone really be happy in this world?
Things may be bad but they probably aren’t as bad as they were in Noah’s day. People were living in many cases to be over 900 years old. Can you imagine the knowledge that they had stored in that computer we call a brain? Had experience been a good teacher for them? Apparently not because the world had become violent and corrupt. We manage to make a mess of things in a life span of about 80 years. Can you imagine what a corrupt depraved mind could do in over 900 years?
The Godly lineage Must have been Lonely
In Genesis 6 we are given a genealogy of the godly line of humanity that ultimately produced the Lord Jesus. But even in that genealogy only two people “walked with God.” One was Enoch who apparently went to heaven without dying and was spared from coming judgment just as the church will be in our day. Then there was Noah who pictures the believing remnant of the nation of Israel who will be truly saved and preserved during the judgments of the tribulation period. By the time the flood came, there were only eight righteous people on an earth that had to be heavily populated since lifespans were so long and families were so large. Some translations would give us the impression that only Noah was righteous and that his children came along because of his authority over them. Even so, only eight were saved. All the others in that royal lineage had died or had been raptured by the time the flood came. Even Methuselah, the longest living person recorded in the genealogy, had apparently died before the flood came even though he died in the year of the flood. If he had died in the flood that would seem to indicate that he was judged along with the unbelieving world and that he wasn’t a true worshipper of the LORD. I don’t believe that to be true.
Noah must have had a lonely existence while building that ark. He and probably his family were the only ones who really believed God. But he remained faithful. He didn’t see many saved but he did see his family saved.
While Noah and his family were righteous in his day, in our day, there is none righteous (Romans 3:10). No one seeks after God even though He seeks after us. But there is one man who pleased the Lord. His name is Jesus and we who are saved call Him Lord. Only faith in Him can make us truly happy. My hope and goal is that this year I can smile more, help others more, and be a better person than I was last year. I want to quit the grumbling and complaining and I want to make “Just one someone happy!” I think that is the title of a Jimmy Durante song. The only way to really make this world a better place and to smile more and to help solve the sin and crime problem is to introduce people to the Lord Jesus who really cares about them and who really loves them.
If We Really love Our Neighbors, Let’s Make a Difference!
Some of you may want to become experts on theology this year, some of you may have grandiose plans about bringing about world peace. Others may want to lead or start a large church. Me, I just want to make a difference in someone’s life, and if the Lord allows me to make a difference in a bunch of people’s lives that will be great. We can’t reach everyone with the good news but we can all reach someone. It would be great if we who are really saved, we who are true believers, could truly love those we know are not saved. We need to love them enough to be burdened about their eternal destiny and to pray that the Lord will help us be used in making them truly happy.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of January 4, 2015