IF they were wise and not given over to sinful pursuits of the world;

Matthew 5:45

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. (KJV)

Jesus taught us to be as kind as possible to everyone we are in contact with in our lives because that emulates God the Father and how he treats all of us. He shares the sun, the rain, and the harvest with everybody regardless of them being good or bad, or that they are a believer or unbeliever.

Were those who reject Him wise, they would look to the beautiful creation around them and praise God for His love.

Were they wise, the unbelievers and skeptics would look to the endless heavens and see the magnificent intelligent design of something far too beautiful and complex to fully understand and explain with our limited minds; and then praise an Almighty God for His creation.

Were they wise, all of the heathen, narcissistic, and self absorbed people in the world would stop and thank God for their beating hearts, breathing lungs, and thoughtful brains.

God’s goodness is displayed openly for all to see. Many people go through life blind to Him, missing the gifts while thrashing about wildly seeking what they believe will satisfy the unquenchable thirst in their beings.

These are the people who need kindness the most. They need to see and hear us give God the praise for His power and love. Yet, standing for God and pointing out His goodness to an unbelieving world can be more of a challenge, especially when we have close relationships who seem to reject it.

The opposed to God and His ways need to discover for themselves the error of their choices through how the believers live around them. In that manner they may grow wiser and might recognize and acknowledge they have been wrong and repent.

In The Days Of Noah

It may seem a stretch to consider that the current path of the world has led to conditions that were present when God declared He had seen enough and brought the sin and evil to an end. Yet, here we are and no, it does not appear to be a stretch. The drumbeats of war, disease, natural and unnaturally caused catastrophes, sexual perversions, perceived gender dysphoria, child abuse and sacrifice, human trafficking of slaves, lovers of money, drug addictions, hatred and violence against groupings of people and cultures, worshippers of false and and pagan gods with their religions, and on and on and on. The evidence of wickedness is spread throughout the world and everybody is touched by it to some extent. Some of us on here lament the choices that even family members and friends make that we know will bring pain or even their destruction.

God chose Noah and members of his immediate family for a restart of mankind and a cleansing of the earth. For this story if you do not remember it or have not read it, please read the scripture found in Genesis 6:9 – 9:17. You can change the version from NKJV as you prefer.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%206%3A9-9%3A17&version=NKJV

Noah was not like Jesus. He was not sinless. However, he was judged by God as righteous. So what is the difference between those two terms? We probably need to know since no human being beyond Jesus, who was both God and man, has been sinless. He who was without sin was sent to earth for the purpose of reconciling mankind to God. As The Word tells us, He desires that none be lost. That demonstrates how much God hates sin, yet, loves us, His created beings.

Being judged righteous by God is something all believers should seek, that Noah was in spades. Place yourself in his position. You are living and located in an incredibly evil region of the world that has no belief and understanding about the God you worship. You are the middle aged patriarch of a family that includes a wife and three sons along with their wives. The Biblical account does not tell us if the sons and their wives also had children prior to The Flood.

One day, in great detail down to materials and measurements, you receive a clear instruction from God to build a huge float boat without propulsion of any type, a covered animal party barge of sorts. You learn that God, whom you have always trusted and worshipped despite the ridicule and wickedness around you, is over it all with mankind. He tells you that with the exception of who and what you are to bring aboard the ark all else are going to die. He makes a covenant that you and your family will survive.

Upon hearing this, you decide you better get started. Why? You do so because you completely believe and trust God, whom you have worshipped, believed and walked with during your life. You know from His words He means business. You tell your sons and the wives who then begin to do what you instruct from His instructions to you.

I can just imagine the stank eyes they gave you when you explained the task and who commanded it to be done. But they get busy and do as instructed.

Next, think about how long that project took using tools and methods from the period and using a limited labor pool. Mind blowing. Scholars are not sure, but the overall consensus time range is that it took 40 to 100 years. That meant decades of ridicule and scoffing from the wicked area population toward the village idiot, Noah, along with his family for building a huge boat on very dry land.

Noah could later claim he who laughs last, laughs best, especially as they came running to convince him to let them come on board as the heavy rains fell and the flooding began. However, his blameless life tells us that it was doubtful that he laughed and none were allowed to join him.

That is some major league faith exhibited in an evil world that had grieved God to the point of bringing about the near extinction of life. Noah’s response is a perfect depiction of the righteousness that God ascribed to him.

Righteousness as defined in Merriam-Webster for this application:

“acting in accord with divine or moral law : free from guilt or sin“

That would fit Noah except he was not without sin and that was even demonstrated post flood as the story in Genesis unfolded. We see from this that using secular sources to define God things is not necessarily the way to go. Below is a good description of the term from a Christian sense.

https://www.gotquestions.org/righteousness.html

Post death and resurrection of Jesus, we who accept Him as our Savior are judged to be righteous in God’s view. But how does that square with the condition of a sinful Noah being judged righteous in times prior to Jesus?

It lies in the interpretation of the term in the Hebrew Torah, known as the Pentateuch to Christians, which is the first five books in the Old Testament of our Bible. Noah was deemed righteous by God as the one who was blameless in the wicked period in which he lived. It appears he did not speak out against the evil around him, however, he did not participate in it and walked with God daily. The full measure of righteousness of God did not appear on the earth until thousands of years later in the person of Jesus Christ.

From the times of Noah forward the faithful remnant of followers of God becomes a theme concerning the Hebrews throughout the Bible and has continued throughout world history.

Which leads to the heart of man. For us, post Jesus, that means how our heart is turned toward God and accomplishing His will. It’s personal. In short, do we love and trust Him? Do we accept the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus for our own salvation from the flood of our sin? Do we respond to our belief and salvation with actions that reflect the relationship?

Donald J. Trump

Some may say, “Trade, you are losing your mind here.” That’s OK, I get accused of that often. 😂

Honestly, in your lifetime have you ever witnessed anything like you are now seeing on the world stage or in the history books? Peace making through strength that is unparalleled in magnitude is occurring.

Go back in time, would all of the evil we have seen in the world in more recent times have existed if our world leaders had adhered to Godly principles and lived under God’s providence? We know the answer.

Donald J. Trump appears to be a man chosen by God to accomplish His will for America and the world. We can debate whether he is an instrument or a servant of God. However, it seems America has seen this happen before in its 250 years and the same debate about instrument or servant could be held. Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and others have all been raised up when the times demanded it, yet, had questions, detractors and enemies.

I contend that We the People made a covenant with God at our founding. Our founding fathers were not like most of the more recent crop of politicians. The current bunch most closely resemble the unprincipled, evil politicians of the ancient Roman Senate during that body’s more darker periods. Our founders were serious people who had real skin in the game. They quickly hit the enemies list of the then world superpower, Great Britain.

Which is just like Donald J. Trump has in our times; except his listing on enemy lists is far more wide ranging and includes a larger number of traitors and seditionists within our own borders.

In essence our founders asked for God’s dominion over us. His obvious responses through the years have proven He honors the relationship, the covenant. The evidence is in the raising up of leaders and movements when our choice has been to remain faithful. It is also in the discipline we received when collectively most did not and turned from him. This is similar to what has happened with His chosen people of Israel. I am not suggesting He is equating or replacing them with us. Instead. it appears that we have been taken into His care by our faith and dedication of this nation to His Providence. He accepted our intent and hearts then, He continues to honor the intent and hearts of the faithful We the People today.

Once again, please take time to read the last paragraph of our Declaration of Independence.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Do not fear.

Think about it.

Remember Wolf’s site rules. Note and label all AI. Please be kind to one another, we are all in this together. May God richly bless America and all of you.

Before all things and people – In God We Trust. Also, trust Trump and the plan.