Just Like the Days of Noah

There's this passage in the Gospel of Matthew that's been on my mind lately. The way Christ phrases this sucks me in every time I think about it because it's pretty dark, straightforward, and it's an interesting way of saying do all that you do for His glory, essentially:

"...For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be... (Matt. 24:37-39 NASB)"

This is said in the context of Christ's last major spoken message before His death about what to expect when He returns to the earth. In view of that, is he saying eating, drinking, and marrying are terrible things?

No, of course not! But the people in Noah's day lacked something that will also be scarce when He returns. Their theology is non existent. Though they knew what was right they didn't do it (Romans 1-2), but instead made gods of themselves, food, drink, and marriage. God was out of the picture. His Word was no longer on people's lips.

Examine your life. Inspect your priorities. Ask yourself what you look forward to, what you fill your time with, and what you talk about.

As I came to realize today I was making an idol out of marriage and am allowing the Spirit to destroy that in my life. It's a means to an end, not an end in itself. So, sure we should seek wives and husbands, to raise our kids in the Word and Christ's love, but never should that become more important than glorifying God. You can glorify Him as a single person, divorced person, widow, or wherever you are at in life. Marriage and the 2.5 kids mold is propagated by suburbia and is what we're told is right, but we should always keep Christ first, keeping in mind that we're here for his purposes over and above ours. The world is coming to an end and judgment is coming. This is not a time to indulge ourselves and do whatever we want. God's kingdom is the only one that lasts (Daniel 2:44-45) and the choices we make now resound throughout all eternity.

It's interesting that Christ chose those three things. They're basic. I feel like dozens of other things would do as well, but the ones Christ chose are simple, everyday functions every human being in existence seeks out- just for survival. The only thing not listed that I can think of that's common to every man is sleep- I guess people often don't make a god of that. lol.

So, my question to you is this: Which is your god? At the center of all of these are self. They aren't bad things to pursue, but when you become more important than God, you're turning God's order upside down and inverting His design- and things don't work out well when we're the designers...