"Searching the Scriptures and Seeking the Lost"
NOAH – THE IMPORTANCE OF SAVING MY FAMILY
by Wayne Jones
The measure of success for most Americans is directly tied to money, land and things. Sadly, a man who uses people to get ahead and neglects more important issues in pursuit of money and goods is still considered (and even honored) as being a great success. Unlike the distorted view of our current society, God still views success and accomplishment from a completely different angle and holds man to an entirely different standard when measuring success. It is not enough in the eyes of God to simply be financially secure, physically fit or materially comfortable. In fact, God has often stressed that life is not measured by those things: Jesus said, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Luke 12:15).”
When it comes to measuring the success of a man, God considers all aspects of his life and what he has accomplished spiritually. Thus, when investigating the life of Noah, God had many things for which to commend this good man. Despite the sin saturated world in which he lived, Noah found grace in the eyes of God (Gen. 6:5, 8). Furthermore, Noah took upon his shoulders the task of building a massive ship based upon the promise of God that it was going to rain despite the fact that Noah had never seen rain before (Heb. 11:7). Meanwhile, Noah spent 120 years preaching to a stubborn generation regarding the judgment of God in the coming flood (2 Pet. 2:5).
Still another accomplishment for which Noah was commended and by which his success was measure had to do with his family. Consider again the words of Hebrews 11:7. There the Spirit reveals: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house…” (Heb. 11:7; emph. mine, WJ). These words are expressly given to show us that God measured Noah according to the efforts he made to save his family. Such an accomplishment may seem insignificant. After all, Noah was a great man of faith. Some might conclude that his children’s faithfulness was merely a byproduct of his own faith. Yet, for those of us who have tried or are trying to rear children we understand what a tremendous feat this is. There must have been tremendous amount of opposition to the construction of the ark and to the preaching of Noah. No doubt their friends and even other family members were critical of these things. Not to mention the abundance of evil that was lurking around every corner. Yet, Noah’s sons and daughter-in-laws had their own fortified faith in the promise of God and the pending flood. Noah’s family’s salvation in the ark was perhaps the greatest earthly accomplishment that Noah had to his credit!
This can still be done today even with all of the disadvantages facing the American family. Satan would have us believe that it is impossible to rear godly children because of the spreading and dominate influences that they face. How can our children be faithful in a society where God has been removed from the schools and government? How can we rear godly children in a world where abortion and homosexuality are defended and promoted with passion? How can our children be faithful when pornography is so easily accessible and drugs are sold by teenagers in our schools? The answers to these questions are found in the greatest book of answers ever written – The Bible. God is clear about what He expects regarding our children and how He expects for that to be carried out.
The most important aspect of God’s plan to ensure that we continue to train our children is regarding the role of the father. The Bible instructs: “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).” Again Paul writes, “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body” (Eph. 5:23). These verses, when considered together, ought to make every father tremble at the responsibility placed upon his shoulders. We may never be called to build a boat and spend 120 years preaching, but the most difficult task that Noah had to fulfill is still required of every father in the year 2006 – the responsibility to save our family.
How important is this task? Perhaps if we were to consider where society would be if every father reared his children the way that we rear ours, then we could see the significance of such a task. What if every family focused on the things we, as fathers, deem important? What if every family pursued the same goals that we, as fathers, pursued? If these things were true, where would our society be a generation from now? In all fairness, fathers, we have to ask those questions if we hope to be motivated to save our family. What a shame it would be to watch our children be lost in the day of judgment because we failed in our task to train them in order that they might be saved!