Living Godly Life In A Godless World

Introduction:

If we look around us, we can see that the world we live in is becoming more and more Godless. The thought of God and living Godly scares the multitude of people. We are pushing God and His Word out from our systems, schools, governments and secular world. Most of the people are afraid to live a life according to God's standards but have so easily adopted immorality, corruption and sinful way of life.

Many Christians believe that the world is turning more and more evil as we achieve progress in science and technology. In fact the technology like internet and virtual world is helping to promote evil behavior, terrorism and erosion of Christian values. Even within the Church of Christ, we are becoming compromising and tolerant to the worldly thinking and sinful ways of living.

The fact is that according to the Bible the world was a beautiful place when God created it. But the choice of our first parents (Adam and Eve) brought sin in the world.In the days of Noah, God destroyed the world by the great flood and only eight family members of Noah survived the destruction. Since then the world is on a downward spiral, getting worse and worse in terms of evil index. We are in the 21st century and perhaps are living in the most Godless society.

The world is a hostile place for the Christians. This is because the worldly standards and lifestyle are in complete contradiction to the Godly lifestyle specified in the Word of God- The Bible. It is increasingly becoming difficult to live Godly lives in the world that is hostile to God, His Word and God's people.

The question that comes to our minds today is- how can we live Godly life as Christians, as the world is exactly opposite to the standards set by the Lord for us.

1. People from The Bible who lived Godly:

The Bible talks about many men and women of God, who lived God-pleasing lives even in most ungodly times. We will just focus on two persons, Noah and Daniel today. They have proved us that it is not impossible to live Godly life, even when the world around them was corrupt and evil. We will then derive the Biblical Principles to help us live Godly life in today's society which hates God and promotes evil.

a. Noah:

Genesis 6:5-9 "The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God."

God spared Noah and his family from the destruction of the world because Noah lived a Godly life in then evil society that deserved God's judgment. Noah didn't allow the world to influence his life.

- Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord (v 8b)

- Noah was a righteous man (v 9)

- Blameless among the people (v 9)

- Walked faithfully with God (v 9)

Noah is included in the list of "Hall of Faith" by the author of Hebrews in chapter 11:7 " 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."

Noah remained untouched by the evil system around him for two reasons- he walked faithfully with God and he believed and obeyed God's Word.

Genesis 7:5 " And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him." He even didn’t bother when others may have mocked and laughed at his plans to build a giant boat. We learn from Noah that we have to walk faithfully with God in spite of hostile environment and ignore the voices of people of the world to listen to God and obey His commandments. We should have a strong faith in God to live a Godly life.

b. Daniel:

During the captivity of Israel four Young Israelite boys including Daniel were selected by Nebuchadnezzar (king of Babylon) for a royal training to be the high ranking officials in the kingdom. The training program included diet of the royal food (offered to idols) and vine for three years (Daniel 1:5). Daniel and his three friends were God-fearing and decided to abstain from the royal defiled food and vine and chose a vegan food and water instead.