In [the ark] only a few people, eight in all, were saved. 1 Peter 3:20 (NIV)
Why did Peter choose Noah as the model for Christians sharing their faith in Jesus Christ?
Noah had to share the gospel to the most resistant people who have ever lived. You think the people around you are hard? Noah lived in the most wicked generation in all of human history!
God sent the flood on them because He saw that the thoughts of that generation were only evil all the time! Corruption and violence were everywhere in the days of Noah. He didn’t see massive numbers of conversions. In fact, at the end of Noah’s life of ministry, only eight people were saved!
Christ spoke through Noah. But that doesn’t mean that people who heard Noah fell on their knees and cried out, “What must I do to be saved?” The Pharisees didn’t do that when Jesus spoke to them either. But they did hear the voice of Jesus.
Ministry among highly resistant people isn’t easy. What matters is not the number of people you lead to Christ, but your faithfulness to Christ in the place where He has set you. And if He has set you in a tough place, take a lesson from Noah and don’t get discouraged by small results.
Talk to God about your faithfulness (or your lack of faithfulness) to Christ in the place He has set you.
