When you see the news, you might think, “What is wrong with the world?” The story that Moses has been telling us so far in Genesis gives us the answer to that question: sin. Sin entered the world when Adam and Eve rebelled against God. What was once good and orderly became broken and disorderly. Over the generations, it became a world without peace, full of pain and even murder.

Moses describes it, saying, “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5 NIV). This is what’s called a hyperbole, an intentional exaggeration, that Moses uses to highlight the extent of the problem.

In the midst of humanity’s out-of-control spiral, Moses says, “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8 NIV). Favor can be better translated as grace. With the world going to hell in a handbasket, Noah was the recipient of grace. What is grace? Grace is receiving what you do not deserve. Noah hadn’t earned it, but he has experienced the grace of God, freely given to him.

Most of us have heard the story told this way: Noah was the one good guy in a world full of bad guys. Since he was such a good guy, God saved him from the flood and let all the bad guys die in the flood. We get the idea that as long as we’re good people, we will get a pass from all the bad parts of life.

We were told the wrong version of that story, though.

Noah was a sinner. Noah did not earn his place on the ark because he was good. Noah was given his place on the ark because God gave him grace. The story isn’t about Noah being a hero. That’s a reminder that can help all of us when we read the Bible: we aren’t the heroes of the story, God is.

However, Noah did respond to the grace God offered him in a healthy way, and that made all the difference in his life. Moses says, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God” (Genesis 6:9 NIV). He decided to follow God’s way as much as possible – that’s what righteousness is.

Sin was so rampant in the world that it broke God’s heart. He said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them” (Genesis 6:13 NIV). This is a hard part to read, but the reality is there’s no such thing as the mercy of God without the justice of God.

If God treated us like a parent that gave only love and no correction, He wouldn’t be a good Father. If you saw a parent on the street that was only love and no correction, you wouldn’t think that was a good parent; if you saw a parent that was only judgement and no love, you wouldn’t think that was a good parent, either. God is our Heavenly Father, and He is a good Father who balances love and judgement.

“Noah did everything just as God commanded him” (Genesis 6:22 NIV). He built the ark and saved his family in the process. He listened to God, no matter how nonsensical it must have felt. He trusted God and obeyed God even when it didn't make sense and when it wasn’t easy. He was willing to walk in a different direction than everybody else in his culture. He was willing to stand out and be considered weird and radical.

So Noah was a sinner saved by grace. That’s how every sinner is saved: by God’s grace. We can’t do enough good to earn God’s love, but He gives it to us freely. Because of Jesus, our relationship with God is built not on our sacrifices for Him but on His sacrifice for us. It’s built not on the good we do but on the good He is.

Remind yourself today that there is nothing you can do to make God love you more and nothing you can do to make Him love you less. God gave us Jesus on that first Christmas so long ago as the ultimate symbol of his love and forgiveness for us.