Sin Is Lurking At Your Door

 “Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why is your face gloomy? If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.””

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭4:6-7‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

God saw in Cain’s face his anger and sin lurking…before he murdered Abel. His reaction to Abel was making him aware of the sin and telling him to master it…to resist it.   God didn’t blame the rock, the club, the hands or whatever Cain used in the murder, He saw the sin that was attacking before and naming it after the act. 

I’m not against tightening laws and addressing the ease of obtains weapons, but if we want to get out in front of senseless murders, we must equip people to master (resist) the sin of murder.  That equipping begins and ends with the Word of God and a relationship with Jesus….LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR.!

WE ARE BORN TO CHOOSE AND TO SEEK

God created Adam with choices to be made. Adam was asked to choose names for all the animals.  Adam was free to choose from what tree to eat, but God did make him aware that His will was that Adam not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.   God didn’t put up a fence or wall it off to prevent Adam from choosing to eat it’s fruit, but He made known His will.  (Genesis 2: 4-17)

I think that it is interesting that God told this to Adam before Eve was created, so I assume that Eve was told by Adam what God had said regarding the tree, but Eve, followed by Adam, chose to ignore God’s will and chose to seek their own will. Of course that seed was planted by the serpent (Satan) and that has been his purpose ever sense. 

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We are born to choose to seek the will of God….it is what Jesus demonstrated every day of his life and ministry. If we are not seeking God and His will, we are choosing to ignore Him and His will. We are born with a conscience to steer us to the good and right choices that are evidence of His will; however, to often we choose to ignore our conscience and choose to put our will or the will of others above God’s will. 

From the very beginning God used others to make us aware of His will…which is motivated by His love for us.  Adam shared it with Eve.  Prophets shared His will throughout the Old Testament.  Jesus and the Apostles shared it with Jews and Gentiles and He continues to share it through the Bible and by His Spirit to those who choose to believe that He is our Savior. 

We are either seeking His will or we are choosing to not seek it.   One thing it certain…it is being shared and can be found. It is our choice!  Choose Christ!  

Is God or Satan smiling?

At the end of the day, we should ask ourselves, “Did I bring smiles to God’s face today or is Satan smiling on me?”  What a miserable  day and life it would be to confess that at the end of the day and at your final breath, Satan is smiling on my life.  Everyone needs to begin and end their day reflecting on this question.

Psalms 119.133-135.NASB2020

“Establish my footsteps in Your word, And do not let any wrongdoing have power over me. Redeem me from oppression by man, So that I may keep Your precepts. Make Your face shine upon Your servant, And teach me Your statutes.”

The Word of God awakens our soul…bringing order to life.

 “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Hebrews‬ ‭4:12‬ ‭ESV‬

This verse explains why God gave us the Ten Commandments. His Word exposes and gives us discernment in regards to our thoughts and intentions. His Word, these Commandments, are the trigger to our conscience. We cannot deny wrong and/ or evil when His Word takes root in our soul.

Do you walk in the Light or in darkness?

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
John 8:12

Jesus is Light. He doesn’t need to have a spotlight shined on Himself to be seen. As we live each day, we are lured and led by the spotlight that Satan shines on the temptations, the fears, the confusion of the world and if we allow the world’s spotlight to lead us, we will find ourselves in darkness as the world’s spotlight dims.

But in Jesus, we have an eternal light that leads us along the “path of Righteousness” …His Righteousness…where we discover and receive God’s love, His Forgiveness, His Provision, and His Eternal presence.

Ask Jesus to come into your life and you will never walk in darkness again. He will never leave you and His Light will always bring you back into His loving embrace. His Light will never dim.

God’s plan is for us to soar with Him.

 “He found him in a desert land, And in the howling wasteland of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest, And hovers over its young, He spread His wings, He caught them, He carried them on His pinions.”

‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭32:10-11‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

God, like an eagle, tends and cares for its young by making the nest comfortable and stays close as the young mature.  He rescues us as we tumble and stumble when we leave the nest and we learn that we can depend on Him. His wings shelter us and lift us. He has created us in His image with the wings to soar with Him.

Set our eyes on Jesus

 “Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:1-2‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

Look ONLY at Jesus as we run the race set before us.  It is so easy to look back, at our surroundings, or down the road in anticipation of the finish line, when the joy along the journey is found in Jesus…walking, running, and carrying us along the way.