Genesis 4: Crouching at the Door
If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.
If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.
Chapter four is filled with "firsts": the first childbirth, the first formal worship, first division of labor, the first extended families, and the first cities/ signs of culture. But one "first" overshadows all others: the first death of a human being- a death by murder, one brother killing another.
Sin enters the world through the first family, and by the second generation people are already killing each other. Yet, not all the news is bleak. Humans begin to fulfill their assigned role as stewards over the created world. Some learn agriculture, some choose to work with tools of bronze and iron, and some discover music and the arts. Despite these advances, though, history continues to slide along the track of rebellion. Still today, we all face the same choice: to obey or disobey God's word. God's warning to Cain applies to everyone- even today in 2007... If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.
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Life Question: Which of Cain's responses to God- anger, defensiveness, fear, shame- do you identify with most easily?
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Uh....all of them? That said, I would have to say, being a parent of three, that shame would top the list for me. Kids are so perceptive and impressionable in everything that we do. I so want to be a solid role model for my family, and I do feel a tremendous amount of shame when I fall short and stumble away from what God would like me to do. I've always been intrigued with Cain's defensive question to God, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Uh... Absolutely! He should have been and we should constantly strive to be our brother's keeper throughout our mortal life. Letting my kids down through my words or actions brings more shame to me than just about anything else that I can think of...and I suppose that this is the lesson that we can all take from the tragic story of Cain and his brother.
1 comment:
I would say "defensiveness" is the response I most have to deal with. I always have reasons for my responses and thinking processes, to sort of plead my case in my own mind; but God is the Ultimate Judge of Truth and will not allow such a smoke-and-mirrors approach in His Courtroom. Thankfully the presence of His Spirit will not allow me to continue in my own version of the rules for life and calls me to compare everything to His Command to love.
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