The moral compass of this world has been broken for a long time. It might be said that it was originally broken by Adam and Eve in the garden and never completed repaired. That is not to say that we are born sinners, but that once sin was in the world, it influenced everyone in it.

Genesis 6:12 (ESV)
¹² And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

This led to God destroying the world by flood, but, unfortunately, this same statement could have been made after the flood as well, that is, that all flesh has corrupted their way (Psalms 14:1-3; Romans 3:9-18). The world is a place of sin.

Does this give us an excuse to sin? No, righteousness is not inherited, it is determined; thus, individuals can determine to be righteous, regardless of what everyone else is doing. Noah proved this to be true.

Genesis 7:1 (ESV)
¹ Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.

Noah was righteous in an unrighteous world. How can we be the same? How can we overcome the sin that dominates the world?

First, we must know what righteousness is. The Greek word for righteousness is dikaiosynē (Strong), and refers first to the justification that is imputed by God upon those who obey the gospel (Romans 3:21-22), and then to the just or righteous living that comes after one becomes a child of God. It is this “just living” that John referred to when he spoke of practicing righteous (1 John 2:29; 3:7).

So, righteousness is practicing what is right, but it must be what is right before God as was the case with Noah. That means our practices must be in harmony with what is taught in the Bible, where we learn God’s will. So, to be righteous in an unrighteous world, one must study the Word of God and be determined to live by it consistently.

Second, we must have the courage to be different. Noah did not care what everyone else was doing. He was not going to join them in their practice of sinning. He was more interested in pleasing God than he was with being popular with the people. This is the key to being righteous in an unrighteous world. It is easy to conform to the crowd, but that will not result in the right-eousness that is seen by God. We must be willing to be different.

Romans 12:2 (ESV)
² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

If we want to be righteous in the kind of society that we live in today, we must have the courage to rise above the temptation to be like everyone else. It might lead to a loss of friendship. It might lead to being ridiculed for our beliefs, but it will also result in being right with God. Noah found that to be more appealing than popularity. I hope that we will too.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.