⁷ It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.Faith. It can save a family. My family. Your family. Our families. Faith. It matters. More than we realize.Noah built from a foundation of faith. We talk about the boat, but the boat would not have been constructed without Noah’s iron-clad faith. So it was faith that built the boat. A strong faith. An enduring faith. A faith that wouldn’t quit. A faith that wouldn’t yield to the whims of an extremely oppositional culture, a culture that did everything but obey God. As the culture plunged further into abject sin, Noah kept right on building, undeterred by his unfavorable and unsavory surroundings.Embedded deep inside Noah’s faith was THE essential element: obedience to God. Faith without action (works) is dead. Noah’s faith was on display for years as one more board was added to the boat each day. “What are you doing, Noah? Are you building a boat?” No, I’m building a refuge for my family. I’m obeying God day-by-day in order to rescue my family from looming disaster. This boat is the embodiment of my faith. By faith (obedience) I will do whatever is necessary to save my family. I’m going with God no matter what.You have a family. Are you building a boat? Are you, day-by-day, obeying God in such a way that your family will be saved from a culture that is doing everything but obeying God? The deluge is underway; there is a torrent of godlessness inundating our culture. Examples: Pervasive vulgarity; rampant drug use and abuse; a saturation of sexual perversions and promiscuity; a media that is fully complicit in promoting rotten, hedonistic values; music and movies that are degrading and vile; the minds of many—too many—that are inventing new ways of sinning; and families that are dysfunctional and broken in ways that we could never have imagined a generation ago. AND it ain’t gettin’ better.As you build, people will laugh; they will ridicule (you’re out of touch, they’ll say); and they will refuse to support you. So what! Keep building. Noah did, and he saved his family. If you love your family, you’ll keep building, day-by-day, even if no one around you seems to care or to be headed in the same direction. You may have to go it alone. That’s OK. Your faith preparation, your obedience to God, will save your family. In the end, all that toil will have been worth it.Purpose to join Noah. Build a refuge for your family. Work on it every day by exercising your faith in God through resolute obedience. You can! And your loved ones will benefit and be glad!Abba Father, help us to build an Ark of refuge for our families; You’ve shown us how by giving us Your Word and Your Son; empower us to stay the course regardless of what’s going on around us. Amen.A fellow “boat builder” along the Way,greg