Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be 120 years."

Genesis 6:3, NAS

Within this passage is found the reason for the flood. Since man's thoughts had become only evil all the time, God decided that they could not remain in this state much longer. While some believe that the 120 years mentioned above was in reference to the shortened life span that mankind would eventually receive, many believe that God was saying that the world had only 120 years left to repent, and then He would bring the flood to wipe out sinful men.

If that is indeed the explanation of the 120 years, then Noah would have been 480 years old at this time. We are told in chapter 7 that he was 600 when the flood came, and we are told in chapter 5 that his sons, were born after he was 500 years of age. If Noah began building the ark pretty soon after God had determined that He was going to bring the flood in 120 years, then his sons would have been born after the construction of the ark had begun.

"Well, thanks for the math lesson", you might be thinking, but what is the point? The point is that for the entirety of Shem, Ham, and Japheth's lives, they would have seen their father building the ark. Further, knowing what we know about parents and their children, it is highly probable that the boys got to help their father with the building of the ark.

This means that these young men would have been active in the process that would would result in their own salvation, as well as the salvation of their wives whom they married prior to the flood. 

And there is a vital lesson in all of this for parents today. Not only do we have the responsibility to prepare our children for salvation, but we have the duty to make sure that the kids are also taking part in that process!

So, what does that look like? I believe it begins by praying with our kids and reading Bible stories to them when they are very young. I believe it means taking them to the worship and Bible classes as often as we possibly can, even before they are old enough to know what is going on. But, having done that during their formative years, we have the further obligation to get them involved. That means encouraging them to pray on their own. That means helping them to see the need for doing their own personal Bible reading and studies. That means making sure that they come to a stage of maturity wherein they are getting themselves up out of bed on Sunday morning and getting ready for the worship - and all of this without whining, complaining, or the necessity of threats from the parents.

These things are not easy, nor do they just "happen". These things require not only proper training, but also an imparting of sound and convincing reasons for them to do so. I'm sure that you will agree that this may not be easy, but it is necessary. I doubt that the training of Noah's sons was easy either. After all, he would have been introducing them to a lifetime of extremely hard and exacting work. I can only imagine the conversations that Noah and his wife must have had with their boys to train them up in the right way, but we know that they accomplished this.

We also know that the result was the completion of an ark, according to God's precise instructions, that became an instrument that helped save their physical lives. Of course, God had the most important part of helping this family to survive the destruction that befell the rest of the world. But the family had to do their part for this to happen. In a like fashion, God will do the "heavy lifting" to ensure that we have what we need for salvation, but we have our part to do as well. And this will require that we get our family involved, from the youngest of ages, so that they can take on their expected part of God's wonderful plan of salvation.

Is your family involved? If not, now would be a good time to start!