"Sin...you must master it."--Genesis 4:7
"If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it."--Genesis 4:7. This was the last thing God said to Cain before we read of the the tragedy to follow, Cain killing his brother Abel. This is part 2 of the devo I did this morning. Tonight I want to focus on God's instructions to Cain, "Sin is crouching at the door...but you must master it."
Sin, you must master it. A little background in case you missed this morning's devo. What happened in Genesis 4:1-6 was that God accepted Abel's sacrifice but not Cain's. We find in Hebrews 11:4 that Abel's faith made the difference. But after these events, God notices that Cain's "countenance" falls because Cain was angry. God tells Cain that if he does well his countenance will "be lifted up." It's almost like God is saying, if you do things right, it will be all better. But then we see what happens if Cain does not do well.
Sin, you must master it. If Cain does not do well, sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for Cain but Cain must master it. The key thought is that he must master it.
Sin, you must master it. Sin is everywhere today. We drive down the road, we see it on some billboard advertising the local bar in town that is offering drinks at half off. We see ads on TV that are using sexual images to sell their product. We even find those same advertisements when we pick up our mail from the mailbox. Not to mention the internet as well. Because sin is so public and exposed, it is in us as well. The question is what will we do about the sin that exists in our lives?
Sin, you must master it. The fact that God tells Cain that he must master sin, in this case, anger. Again, anger as an emotion is not sinful but it is what we do with that anger that can cause sin. Cain clearly had an anger problem. But the fact that God tells him he must master his sin should give us all encouragement in that whatever sin we might struggle with, God has given us the ability to conquer it.
Sin, you must master it. I don't know what sin you struggle with, maybe it is anger, maybe it is lust, or greed, or something else. God told Cain He must master his sin. Why? Because sin's desire was for Cain. This was written down for a reason. Sin, more specifically Satan, desires us. We must master our sin, God has given us the ability to conquer our sin through Him and through His Son whose gospel we must obey. This is only the beginning of our mastery of sin.
Sin, you must master it. Among other things, conquering sin involves self control. Another practical method in conquering sin is removing that which causes you to sin whether it's the computer or the TV or even some of the movies that might be in your DVD collection or songs on your iPod or maybe we need to think about the people we hang out with. These are just a few examples. The point is from Genesis 4 we can see that God has given us the power and the ability to master and conquer sin.
Sin, we must master it. And if we do, there are benefits both in this life and the next. We will be better Christians and better people. What will you do? DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!
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