A Fresh New World

A Fresh New World

Noah’s Wife And Daughters-in-law

Read: Genesis 8:1-19

Although the missionary organization had tried to prepare them for their new lives, the overwhelmed mother and her children kept their faces pressed against the car windows during the long ride from the airport. Such wonderful sights—the rows of painted houses, the park with expanses of colorful flowers, and trees of all shapes and sizes. But the tall buildings and wide spaces were a little frightening, too. The family felt worlds away from their little village of thatched huts.

Noah’s family must have felt that they were stepping into a new world as they left the ark after living on it for almost a year. It must have been a huge relief to stand on land again and gaze at open spaces, and yet a little frightening, too. This was the same world they had known before, but it was different. The flood had washed away all traces of the former inhabitants and their wickedness, leaving the earth clean and fresh, but also strangely quiet. Since it was not a perfect world like the Garden of Eden, the world was still decaying and sin would soon pollute it again. But Noah’s family thanked God for the opportunity to begin a new life.

When we become God’s children, we enter a new world unseen by human eyes. We live in the same aging physical bodies, but Christ has washed away our sin, leaving us clean and fresh. We still exist on the same earth, but spiritually we belong to a new Kingdom with values that are opposed to those of the world. Our challenge is to live in the world without conforming to its attitudes. Through prayer, Bible study, and fellowship with other believers, God can transform our thinking so that we reflect his values. Then we may look around and see the same old world, but we will be living a new life.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Romans 12:2