"God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon earth."
-Genesis 6:12
I often talk about God's mercy, grace and love on this blog. I talk about these things because I want to stress that God is not an angry god who wants to control our lives, or make us live a bad life. Also, because of His mercy anyone that turns to Him can be saved, no matter their past. God accepts anyone that will turn to Him, because He loves everyone. Today I want to talk about something I don't normally talk about- the seriousness of sin.
After Adam and Eve sinned against God, their sin spread to their children, most notably Cain. When Cain becomes jealous he murders his brother Abel. After this tragic event, Adam and Eve give birth to another son, named Seth. Seth is similar to Abel; one who follows God and His ways. Now there are two different kinds of people being born, the children of Cain and those of Seth. Cain's line is one that is full of sin, disobedience, and disregard for God. Seth's line is one that is full of people who follow God.
In Genesis 6 we see that "the sons of God" took "the daughters of men" as their wives. It is not clear who these sons of God are or who the daughters of men are, but it is a safe assumption to say that they are the sons of Seth and daughters of Cain. What we do know for sure is that these "sons of God" married the "daughters of men" because they were beautiful. Seth's descendants began to live according to their flesh desires, marrying whomever they chose. Later in the passage God sees corrupt and wicked people, who stopped following God. Today I want to share with you three things we should be aware of in our own lives that may indicate if we are falling into sin that I see in this passage.
We forget about God. Seth's line was one that followed after God. It is not clear exactly what they did, but we can see that Seth's descendants are called "sons of God." These people probably lived faithful lives to God, constantly praying to God. However, they being to lose sight of God, and they forget about Him. People usually begin to forget about God when they replace Him with something else, such as money, other people, or pleasure. This reminds me of Philippians 3, where Paul warns the Philippians to be aware of the enemies of God, "whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite...". Which brings me to my next point...
We begin to do whatever we want, regardless of our intentions. Seth's descendants began to fall away from God because they lived for their pleasure. They married based of their feelings and lust, disregarding the fact that the daughters of Cain were sinful people. When we do whatever we want without considering why we are doing these things, it is very easy to fall into sin. We are people of flesh, and our flesh desires sinful things. When people live for pleasure, they fall easily into sin, and start believing that they are living a fulfilling life. Make sure to think about your intentions when you do anything.
We start to fit in with others. It's sad to say, but people of this day are quite similar to the people of Noah's time. People only live for pleasure, and do not bother to follow God. The norm is not following God or living a righteous life, but living a sinful and pleasure-seeking life. If people cannot tell us apart from other people, we have to consider our lives. It is definitely very difficult to live a righteous life because everyone else is not. Also, people will look down on you if you don't fit in with them. I'm sure that when Noah began building the ark that God had commanded Him to, people were making fun of him all the time. Living for God is not easy because you will not fit in with the world.
So why is it so important to live a righteous life anyway? Why fight against sin when it is inevitable that we will sin? These are valid questions. I believe that if we understand who God is, and what His view of sin is, that will be enough to convince us to live for Him. God is a righteous and just God, and He does not take sin lightly. When the people began to sin against God, His heart became deeply troubled because He was forced to take action. God decided to send a massive flood to destroy everyone, except for Noah. Noah found favor in God because Noah did his best to live a righteous and blameless life.
"The wages of sin is death". Although God does not wipe out everyone who sins through a flood, a person who sins and does not repent will die. I am not just talking about a physical death, because everyone dies, even the righteous. Unforgiven sinners will die an eternal death, far worse than dying in a flood. Sin is a very serious thing, and we cannot treat it lightly. We must realize that God is just and He will punish sin. Having this in mind, we also know that we have a savior who died in our place. Jesus took the punishment for our sin, but we have to repent and accept God's forgiveness.
-Smart
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