November 20, 2023

Passage Read: Genesis 5-8
Meditation Verse: 8:21

Thought

Though God destroyed all men except Noah and his family, He didn't eradicate the wickedness in men's hearts. He acknowledges here that the intent of man's heart remains evil from his youth. So the flood didn't fix man, but it reset man's influence over the earth, it wiped the earth clean of all his violence, and it displayed God's power to punish mankind, and the limit of His tolerance of sinfulness. He does judge sin and He will judge each man according to how he uses his life. But He will not leave man alone to go his own way, without a witness against his wickedness, and without a testimony of His righteous standards.

Application

This is why we must be recreated and made new. In Adam, we all have this sinful heart, but in Christ, we are made new, in the likeness of God, holy and righteous. Our nature is changed, our heart is changed, only our old flesh remains, but in time even that will be replaced. That is why it's such a tragedy for someone who has been regenerated to turn back to their flesh, to live according to its evil desires and the sin that remains in it. It is corrupting again what God has made clean; it is truly a trampling underfoot of the blood, sacrifice and death of Jesus. It is an incredible insult to God and His Son. It must not be done. I must not give way to my flesh.