”Daniel so distinguished himself… that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom… They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent…” Daniel 6:3-4
What a thing to be said about a person - ‘distinguished’. A word meaning to have an exceeding, extraordinary, excellent spirit. As hard as his detractors tried, they could find no basis to accuse Daniel of wrong. The reason was he was trustworthy and neither corrupt or negligent (Daniel 6:3). This is the type of person we should all want to be. What his enemies did find were reasons to indict him for his faith in God - the reason they found no other charges. As we grow in our faith in God, it will distinguish us to…
BELIEVE LIKE NOAH DID…
”By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.” Hebrews 11:7
After hearing God’s warning of a coming flood, Noah’s actions proved he believed God’s word to be true. Even though what he was warned about had never happened in mankind’s history. Because God loves us, He gives us warnings, not to restrict us or kill our fun, but to protect us. Whether or not we heed these warnings is solely our choice. But Noah, by faith, in ‘holy fear’ (reverence and respect) did what God told him. That he ‘condemned the world’, means his actions were distinct from how the world was acting (wicked). Noah did not let the current culture be the current that swept he and his family away.
…AND BUILD LIKE IT’S TRUE.
”So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it… Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” Genesis 6:14-15; 22
The ‘Ark’ saved Noah and his family, along with the pairs of animals. Today, we relate to this by believing in the Lord as the ‘ark’ who saves. Jesus said in Matthew 7:24, ‘Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock’. Jesus is the Ark who saves and the rock we build on. By building our lives on Christ, we, like Noah, will be different (distinct, distinguished) from the corrupt world. It is by being set apart from the world that God makes a distinction between those who serve Him and those who do not (Malachi 3). It is in this distinction we find God’s favor.
”On the day when I act,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.” Malachi 3:17-18
”But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” Genesis 6:8
Comments