6 And the Lord
said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7 If
thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well,
sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt
rule over him. –Genesis 4:6, 7 (KJV)
There is a shed behind the church where I am pastor
and in it we keep a collection of grass cutting equipment. Since
I take care of the grass around the church parsonage, I am in this shed
ever so often. I did something I realized was a mistake.
At the beginning of the season, there was a wasp’s nest forming, but
I did not take the time to get rid of it. As the summer wore on,
the nest grew and I kept thinking I would bring down a can of wasp spray,
but I never seemed to find the time. I told a neighbor about the
nest and he said his policy has been as long as a wasp nest does not
bother him he will not bother them. I laughed and said I did not
believe this principle would work for me much longer.
As it turns out, I was correct. The other evening
I went into the shed to retrieve the lawn mower when a wasp did a sort
of dive bomb at my head, which sent me running for safety.
The nest had grown to the size of a softball and was covered with a
small swarm of angry looking wasps. I knew I had to take action.
I went back to the house, brought back a can of wasp spray, and rid
the shed of the wasps. My mistake was waiting so long to confront
the problem.
Consider how often sin is handled in the same manner. We let it go thinking it will be all right,
when all the while the problem is growing worse and getting larger.
We ignore sin and ungodliness to our own detriment. Anytime we
allow sin to continue in our lives we are in rebellion against God.
Furthermore, we are living a lie, for we convince ourselves we have
control over the sin. Eventually, we discover the sin controls
us. Cain of the Old Testament suffered the same problem.
Jealousy overcame him because of God’s acceptance of his brother’s
sacrifice over his own. The Lord warned Cain that sin was crouching
at his door and desired to enslave him. Eventually, sin consumed Cain and he murdered his own brother. All of us face the problem of sin,
but the good news is that through faith in Jesus Christ sin no longer
rules us.
By the power of Christ, we overcome sin and anything
that hinders our forward progress of walking by faith. The Word
of God challenges us to examine ourselves and see if there is anything
in our lives keeping us from a right relationship with God (II Corinthians
13:5). When some sin, attitude, or habit is hindering our walk
with Christ, we are empowered to rid ourselves of it. Take a bold
step of faith and trust Christ with all your life. The result
is vibrant and dynamic faith.
God bless you today.
