It’s Waiting

“You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”
Genesis 4:7 NLT

As I told you last week I have been reading and thinking about the first few chapters of Genesis the last few weeks. It has been fun and interesting to go back and be reminded of so many of the foundational truths of the Bible. One of the truths that grabbed my attention this week is found in the verse you just read. The phrase “Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you” is so interesting. I think we often go through our Christian life with a ho-hum attitude. Kind of a “what ever happens, happens” way of looking at life. This kind of outlook is extremely dangerous and not how God intended for us to live life. God is very clear in this verse that sin (Satan) is constantly watching for an opportunity to take over and control your life. He would like nothing more than to be able to force you to live in bondage to him. He will look for any weakness, any small fracture in you that he can exploit with something that will lead you into sin. “And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death” James 1:15b. The result of sin in every human life is the same, death and separation from God. A very real problem for us all.
But what I love about Genesis 4:7 is that it doesn’t just leave us struggling with the problem. It also leads us to the solution. Notice the last sentence, “But you must subdue it and be its master.” Now we know by reading this verse in its context that it was written to Cain, and it was about bringing the proper sacrifice to God. Cain wanted to do the sacrifice his own way, not God’s. We struggle with the same issue, we want to come to God on our own terms, our own way. The problem with that is God has already explained how we are to come to him. He tells us to confess our sins and accept his payment for our sin, yielding our wills and lives to him as our master and Savior. It is only through Christ that we can subdue sin and become its master. So let me finish today with two questions. Is sin controlling you? Or have you subdued it by the person of Jesus Christ?

-Pastor Tim