Do What Is Right

Good Morning,

Genesis 4:6-7 (NIV)
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

We read this morning advice from God to Cain. Well, rather, I think, we might call it a warning. Because God wasn't thrilled with Cain's sacrifice, Cain was upset. God, in His infinite wisdom, went to Cain to give him some good, solid advice about his feelings and what might come from them.

"But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you, but you must master it." These words from God to Cain echo just as true this morning as they did many thousands of years ago. They are fairly simple and really pretty clear. God gives us, through the Bible, some advice about avoiding sin in our lives. That would be, to avoid the clutches of the devil as he and his minions attempt to ambush us even in the world now.

"...if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door..." You see, when we take the wrong path down a road that we know we ought not to be on, the enemy...and his temptations to sin...come right along with us, knowing that we shall be vulnerable to his temptations. It's really very clear, don't you think? I mean, if we knowingly don't to the right things, which thereby means we'll be doing the wrong things, then our minds are much more open to listening to the great deceiver as he puts sinful thoughts into our minds. Perhaps we had no thought about committing any sin at all. Maybe we really don't want to even consider sinning against God. But, when we put ourselves into a position susceptible to him, then Satan will quickly pounce upon us and gleefully lead us directly into sin.

If we read on here we see that God tells us, "...sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you..." As the saying goes, "Misery loves company!" And just as that is true, well, sin loves company as well. There are evil forces out there that seek to have us join them in a sinful lifestyle...or even, perhaps, just one sin that will eat at our minds and dig into our very souls. Sin, it seems, enjoys being around sin. So, if we aren't doing what is right and sin grabs us by the nape of the neck to drag us down to that sinful level and we give in to it, well then, one sin just seems to lead to another, then another, and yet another, until we find ourselves leading a life filled with sin. Pretty scary concept, isn't it?

God then tells us, again extremely clearly in His words, "...but you must master it." That is, we must master the sinful temptations that come our way. Yes, we have God to call on for His strength to help us, of course. But, if we don't find ourselves in the position of "not doing what is right" in the first place, then our mastery over sin will be that much easier. God's words are unmistakable and very explicit here. "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?" Right at the start, we need to be doing the right things and traveling along the right paths as we walk in this world. That's the beginning of living a good life that is NOT beset by temptation at every turn.

What we need to do then, is to simply do what is right. Then, we have much less chance of being led astray. God says so!

Love, peace, and blessings,

David