"If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door.
And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."
Genesis 4:7
Adam and Eve never imagined that their disobedience would bring them to this. There they stood over the dead body of their second son. Their oldest son Cain had now fled from their presence, and they were left in despair. It didn't have to be this way, but sin is a powerful force when man submits his heart to its lust. Cain had received a sinful nature by blood. This nature has been passed to all men since the fall in the Garden of Eden. It is a powerful force against the hearts of man, but we must understand that it is no match against the power and righteousness of God.
Cain and Abel had returned from offering their sacrifices to God. Both of them brought the best that they had, but only one of them brought what God required. Cain thought his fruits and vegetables should be pleasing to God, but God rejected his offering. This made Cain bitter, and as we all know bitterness kills. God knew Cain's heart and spoke to him about his condition. It was not a difficult thing that Cain needed to do in order to be right with God. He just simply needed to be obedient. How true that is for us as well! It is not difficult to do right, but it is against this nature that we battle each day. We must simply submit our will to the will of the Father. Like Cain we want to do things our way, but our way is not the path of obedience. Our way leads only to bitterness, hurt, anger, and even death.
God warned Cain that if he decided to go his own way that sin would surely lie at the door. If we do not submit to the will of God, sin is ready and willing to take hold of our lives. There are no games that should be played with evil. Satan does not fight fairly. He fights to win and to destroy. In our society and even in our churches we see the wreckage of those that chose their own path. There are ruined marriages, embittered hearts, wasted lives, and empty souls that are a direct result of sin. I can almost hear the Father pleading with His creation to simply look up and be obedient to His voice. To not obey is to choose our destruction by the hands of the enemy.
God told Cain that sin desires him. What a powerful thought that is! Sin desires your life. It desires to eat you alive from the inside out. It desires to take away every thing beautiful that God has in store for those who love Him and live for Him. When God created Adam and Eve, He told them that they should have dominion over all things. It was never meant for sin to dominate the lives of man, but man gave up his dominion when he submitted himself to evil. The words of James powerfully remind us, "Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." If you are a child of God, you were given the power of the Holy Spirit to rule and reign. Do not become a servant of sin, but surrender your life to Christ so that you may live in the joy of spiritual dominion.
May you live today in the power of Christ!
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