If we understood the consequences of our sins, and the great mercy and grace poured out to us from the Lord, perhaps we wouldn't be living as we are. We wouldn't put ourselves first before others, we wouldn't look out for our own needs above other's, we wouldn't let little obstacles tear us apart. Our lives have been bought. We don't exist for the sake of existing. It's much more than just waking up and going to bed, hopping from one interest to another, trying to occupy our time on earth chasing don't know what. It's difficult to realise it every day when we're given so much free will to do the things that pleases us. It's difficult to see it when we are living in the flesh, here, now, with all the material stuff before our eyes. But reading about Noah, Abraham, and Lot, I realise that our situation isn't so different.
Our world isn't any less or more corrupt than during Noah's time, it isn't any less or more sinful than where Lot resided. We still sin against God, we still indulge in sins that make us feel good, we still refuse to submit to His authority and will. These three people, righteous children of God, were here before Jesus came to the earth. During Noah's time, "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart." That was the state of the world, that God would regret His own creation. But before destroying the evil, He found Noah to be righteous. And because of his righteousness and obedience towards God, him and all his family were spared. Abraham, too, was righteous in God's eyes. When the sin in Sodom and Gomorrah was too great and God was about to destroy them, God made His plan known to Abraham. And so Abraham interceded, pleading with God to spare their lives if he could find righteous people in the land. He said, "Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it?" And we know from fifty, the number went down to forty-five, to forty, to thirty, to twenty, to ten. And after all this bargaining, God still replied, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."
Again, with the righteous interceding, God was willing to spare the entire land this time. But we know in the end, the people did not act accordingly and only Lot and his family were spared. And Lot's family was spared because God was looking out for Abraham's family, which included Lot, his nephew. And Lot was also a good servant of the Lord. Even when Lot hesitated leaving the land that was about to be destroyed, the angels grabbed him and his family by the hand and led them outside the city.
So what about today? Noah's family was rescued because the Lord has chosen Noah and found Him to be pleasing. Lot's family was rescued because of the Lord's favour upon Abraham and Lot and because of their faithfulness towards the Lord. People were saved based on the actions of one man and through God's grace. And why we aren't in ashes today is because Jesus interceded for us.
Despite seeing how great the sin was in the world, God no longer cursed the ground as He had promised Noah He wouldn't. God no longer destroyed cities, saving only a family. He saw the sin in the world and He knew there had to be an intercession. But no man was righteous enough, so He sent the only perfect sacrifice. Seeing how we were headed towards darkness, He sent Jesus Christ to come and stand between us and Him. And for the sake of Christ, we have all been spared! Not only that, but Christ suffered the ultimate pain, humiliation, everything that He did not deserve. Noah and Lot didn't suffer like that when they interceded for their families. But Christ suffered. For people who weren't even His family. He suffered to spare the lives of those persecuting Him, the lives of those who betrayed Him, the lives of those who refused to acknowledge Him.
Our lives have been bought. We could easily end up dead, wiped out by a flood or destroyed in flames. We could easily end up suffering for eternity. Instead, Christ came to buy our lives so that we might enjoy His presence, to enjoy Him, to love Him back for eternity. He is the righteous one that God sees and therefore spares our lives. So really, we aren't entitled to serving ourselves alone.
Everyone does things out of love. But it's either out of love for ourselves, or love for others. Christ did everything out of love for us. So are we the righteous people standing in the gaps, interceding and helping those who do not yet know Christ?
It isn't that Abraham and Lot and Noah were perfect people. But they had a relationship with God, obeyed Him, repented when they sinned, and they loved God. We cannot be made perfect or holy on our own. But if we continually look to God and truly love Him, everything we do would be done to please Him and so everything we do would be aligned to His will. It takes a lot to find ourselves pleasing to God. So thank goodness we aren't the judges of our own lives. We can only try, every day, and pray, and live remembering that our lives have been bought. That we should live in response to this great sacrifice and love.
Our world isn't any less or more corrupt than during Noah's time, it isn't any less or more sinful than where Lot resided. We still sin against God, we still indulge in sins that make us feel good, we still refuse to submit to His authority and will. These three people, righteous children of God, were here before Jesus came to the earth. During Noah's time, "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart." That was the state of the world, that God would regret His own creation. But before destroying the evil, He found Noah to be righteous. And because of his righteousness and obedience towards God, him and all his family were spared. Abraham, too, was righteous in God's eyes. When the sin in Sodom and Gomorrah was too great and God was about to destroy them, God made His plan known to Abraham. And so Abraham interceded, pleading with God to spare their lives if he could find righteous people in the land. He said, "Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it?" And we know from fifty, the number went down to forty-five, to forty, to thirty, to twenty, to ten. And after all this bargaining, God still replied, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."
Again, with the righteous interceding, God was willing to spare the entire land this time. But we know in the end, the people did not act accordingly and only Lot and his family were spared. And Lot's family was spared because God was looking out for Abraham's family, which included Lot, his nephew. And Lot was also a good servant of the Lord. Even when Lot hesitated leaving the land that was about to be destroyed, the angels grabbed him and his family by the hand and led them outside the city.
So what about today? Noah's family was rescued because the Lord has chosen Noah and found Him to be pleasing. Lot's family was rescued because of the Lord's favour upon Abraham and Lot and because of their faithfulness towards the Lord. People were saved based on the actions of one man and through God's grace. And why we aren't in ashes today is because Jesus interceded for us.
Despite seeing how great the sin was in the world, God no longer cursed the ground as He had promised Noah He wouldn't. God no longer destroyed cities, saving only a family. He saw the sin in the world and He knew there had to be an intercession. But no man was righteous enough, so He sent the only perfect sacrifice. Seeing how we were headed towards darkness, He sent Jesus Christ to come and stand between us and Him. And for the sake of Christ, we have all been spared! Not only that, but Christ suffered the ultimate pain, humiliation, everything that He did not deserve. Noah and Lot didn't suffer like that when they interceded for their families. But Christ suffered. For people who weren't even His family. He suffered to spare the lives of those persecuting Him, the lives of those who betrayed Him, the lives of those who refused to acknowledge Him.
Our lives have been bought. We could easily end up dead, wiped out by a flood or destroyed in flames. We could easily end up suffering for eternity. Instead, Christ came to buy our lives so that we might enjoy His presence, to enjoy Him, to love Him back for eternity. He is the righteous one that God sees and therefore spares our lives. So really, we aren't entitled to serving ourselves alone.
Everyone does things out of love. But it's either out of love for ourselves, or love for others. Christ did everything out of love for us. So are we the righteous people standing in the gaps, interceding and helping those who do not yet know Christ?
It isn't that Abraham and Lot and Noah were perfect people. But they had a relationship with God, obeyed Him, repented when they sinned, and they loved God. We cannot be made perfect or holy on our own. But if we continually look to God and truly love Him, everything we do would be done to please Him and so everything we do would be aligned to His will. It takes a lot to find ourselves pleasing to God. So thank goodness we aren't the judges of our own lives. We can only try, every day, and pray, and live remembering that our lives have been bought. That we should live in response to this great sacrifice and love.