[Jan 12]--“Private” Sin

Genesis 6:11-22

You're probably familiar with the story of Noah’s flood, so I won’t go into too much detail at this point. However, this narrative does raise a couple of issues.

First, one of biggest changes we need to make in our thinking is how seriously we take sin. One of sin’s most deadly effects is how it dampens our moral sensitivity. The more we indulge, the less serious sin in general seems to us. This passage strongly reminds us that God takes sin a whole lot more seriously than we do. As R. C. Sproul once noted, we have more in common with Adolf Hitler than with Jesus Christ.

One reason why we should hate sin is because our sin doesn’t just affect us; it affects those around us. The animals had not participated in mankind’s sin, but they were killed along with sinful humanity. We can scream and cry that “It’s not fair,” and that argument might have some merit. Unfortunately, we have to deal with the world as it is, not as we would like it to be. An expectant mother gets addicted to drugs, and the unborn baby suffers as a result. Whatever our feelings about the unfairness of it all, we have to acknowledge that our sinful choices affect our spouses, our children, our parents, and all of our loved ones around us. In this sense, there is no such thing as “private” sin.

In the midst of all this depravity, however, one man stands out from the rest. The lesson we can glean from this is encouraging. Even in the midst of a human race completely given over to rebellion against God, the Lord still had one man who tried (however imperfectly) to obey and follow him. When we look at how humanity seems bound and determined to find new ways to defy him, it’s easy to get discouraged. In every generation, however, God has his people who stand firm and who refuse to follow the crowd. Take heart.

Lord, help me to be the kind of man who goes against the flow, who's different from the lost people around me. I want to be completely given over to you, and I want to follow Noah’s example. Whatever you ask me to do, the answer’s “yes.”