Category Archives: Mankind

Progression To Sin

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There is definatly a progression to sin. If fact God laid it all out to Cain in Genisis 4:7.

This progression is again laid out very clearly in the first chapter of Romans with even more detail. It is because the progression to sin has been so clearly described to us in scripture that it is a key point for us to pay special attention to. There are many trying to make excuses for sin as God calls it, but beware, what God calls sin is sin, what God calls evil is evil. Sin is not an illness.

In this instance both Cain and Abel had made an offering to God. Both from their trades. One was accepted as good by God and the other was rejected. Just after this event God spoke with Cain in an attempt to teach him.

Genesis 4:7 If thou doest well,  shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Quite simple really. To do well will is to be accepted by God. To not do well leads to a sequence of events. It’s kind of interesting, it looks like a logical argument in a program.

If you don’t do well sin lies at the door. Sin is close at hand, God giving us a picture of a kind of ambush being set up by sin. It’s the age old battle between good and evil. Some tend to think that this battle is for heaven and earth, but not so, the battle is for individual souls. Those who follow after God, will be victorious, those who fall to the ambush of sin will not be victorious. The interesting part is that God places the decision with each individual person. Do you believe God and do good, or do you not do good and fall for sin that awaits you.

The decision then is taken and the battle ensues. To not do good sin moves into the position of taking us. Is that the end then, once and done? No way. God is great, good, and full of grace. This  decision doesn’t have to be a once and done decision. We sometimes tend to think that the decision to turn from God is final. The verse goes on to say that sin desires to rule us but thou shalt rule over him. We have the ability to rule sin, to move away from sin and back to God. He is always there to accept us. To redeem us.

Cain on the other hand seems to have taken the whole conversation to mean that He was out of grace with God. He allowed sin to take him in ambush, and the results of his actions was the murder of his brother. Sin always leads to destruction and hurt. To follow God leads to fulfilment and joy. We have to make a decision numerous times per day between accepting God’s way and doing good, or to not do good. It is a choice each time, and we must choose with care.

According to the first chapter of Romans, the more we choose to ignore God, to intentionally forget Him, the further into hurt and disaster we go. The more we deny His existence the more deprived we become, the more hurtful and destructive we become. Just take a look around at the world we now live in. The evidence is everywhere. It’s undeniable!

Jealousy Rage and Murder

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It didn’t take very long for things in the new earth to hit rock bottom. Strife surfaced pretty quickly between Adam and Eve’s first children.

We see the two making an offering to God. It is a voluntary offering just as we do in our church services today. The problem arose with God’s acceptance of one and not the other. The first impression I get is that God was very personal with these boys. He was speaking with them one on one. God was please with the offering brought by Abel, but not the offering brought by Cain. He must have expressed as much to the two boys. This lead to Cain feeling rejected, although that was not the case. God did not reject Cain. God was speaking very closely with the boy, but none the less he felt very put out.

What was the difference in the two offerings? Why did God receive one and not the other? The text is short but pretty telling of the two gifts. The giving of gifts is a touchy point with most of us. It is also a touchy point with God. The importance of God in our lives is very easily seen by the way we give gifts to Him. Our giving to God reviels our true thoughts about Him, His worth to us. So what was the difference in the two offerings? We are told in the passage that Cain brought an offering of the fruits of the ground. It just happened to be some of what Cain had on hand, nothing special really. Abel on the other hand brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. Abel had brought to God the first and best of what he had. He did not bring to God some of the left over of his belongings. This shows God what we think of Him. Do we fear Him? Do we love Him? Do we trust Him to provide for us? God expects our best, not the left overs. Cain had already consumed the best of the first fruits and so God was not pleased with the offering that Cain brought. Many times in my own life I have done exactly as Cain did. I looked at my bills, the things that I may have liked to have, covered those things, then given to God if there was anything left. This does not show any reverence for God. Then I complain when nothing seems to go right, I feel rejected just as Cain did. God expects us to trust Him with all of our life, yes even with the material possessions.

Cain became jealous of Abel to the point where he called Abel out into a lonely field and Killed him. We have a tendency to blame shift. We like to find a reason for why things are not the way we want them. Cain had decided that Abel was the reason that God had rejected his offering, and the only way to fix it was to murder him.

I find it very interesting that God approached Cain in the same way He had approached Adam and Eve when they had disobeyed Him in the Garden of Eden by eating the forbidden fruit. God asked Cain “where is your brother Abel?” God knew full well where he was, but He put the question to Cain. This has not changed in how God deals with us. He want’s us to confess our failures to Him, to ask His forgiveness. We too have not changed, we try to deflect God, to deceive Him. God knows everything, He can not be deceived. The result of our pushing God away is always more pain, more suffering. If we do not do right sin waits at the door, sin will take us.

God want’s us to trust Him.

God knows everything, there is nothing that can be kept from Him. He is the judge of the world, He made it all and He has the right to judge it.

Results of Sin

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Sin: the opposite of God’s desires. We look for many technical definitions of sin, usually to see if there is any way to justify our actions or thoughts. The true and simple definition of sin is anything that is different to God’s desires. God created all that we see and don’t see. He has the right to define how those things He created behave. He has the right to set limits.

God’s limits are not difficult to understand. Adam and Eve were asked to not eat of one fruit. They had all the rest of the fruit to eat from, to enjoy. How hard is it to obey God in this simple request? God even took the time to explain what would happen if the fruit was eaten, but that explanation was not enough. Things have not changed with mankind or with God. His desires for us are still very simple, but we embellish them, then we ignore His desires for our own desires.

To sin, to do the opposite of God’s desires always leads to the same result. Hurt, pain, trouble, heartache, DEATH! I’d like to mention that God at this point put no further rules on the new couple. No law, no guide lines. I wonder why. Could it be that they now knew the difference between good and evil. Now there was evil, and they could tell which was which, evil is evil (to do the opposite of God’s desires), and good is good (to do God’s desires). We still carry this knowledge within us. It is inherent, we call it a conscience.

The immediate results that Adam and Eve experienced when they disobeyed God were quite striking. Shame of their bodies. The very first thing they did is try to cover their bodies. Mankind has struggled with sexuality ever since. The next thing they experienced was a fear of God. Until now they had conversed with God as if He were no different from them. They now hid from Him, which by the way is not possible. They now experienced confrontation for the first time from God as He questioned what they were  doing and why. They experienced panic as they scrambled to hide both themselves and what they had done. They now felt the need to justify themselves by shifting blame to someone else. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. Things have not changed at all! This is a full description of how we perceive God. We feel that we can hide the things we know to be wrong from Him and if we feel He knows, we blame someone else for those problems. God always knows!

The earth too was affected by this disobedience to God. We see God telling Adam that now he will have to work really hard to grow things, weeds and other problem will present challenges to Adam as he struggles to grow food. We also see God expelling Adam and Eve from the perfect garden that He had put them in. We see death for the first time as God killed animals and clothed Adam and Eve with their skins. We see that Adam and Eve’s lives would end, they would die and return to dust. None of these things were what God wanted. He wanted them to live forever in a perfect place under perfect circumstances. Disobedience of God will always lead to these problems. All of mankind is now stuck in this world of death, and struggles. This is still not what God wants for us. That is why He puts a limit on this life. Sin has a limit.

God has the right to put limits on everything. He made it all.

God has the right to tell us how to live our lives. He made us all.

God has set a limit on sin. He will not allow it to go on forever. That is not His plan.

God is the judge of all things. Death is the result of disobeying Him.

Star of the Show

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God devoted an entire chapter of the book of Genesis to describing how He created the universe, in what order, and in how much time He created it.

He spent the very next chapter of Genesis talking about His star creation. Man! The creation of man was mentioned in chapter one, but only in passing just as everything else was mentioned. Chapter two goes into more detail about the creation of man. Detail about the surroundings in which God put man. God does this because man is the star of the show as far as creation is concerned. God describes special things that He did for man, and how He created woman to be his companion.

God had gone to the trouble of making a special place for the new couple to live. They had in this place everything they needed for a great life. There was no hard work to be done. The only job that God had given to Adam at this point was to rule over all of creation and to care for the garden.

Why had God made mankind? Why did He give them everything they needed? His desire was and is to commune with man, to fellowship with him. He want’s to talk with us, walk with us, be the main part of our lives. He want’s to be worshiped by us, to be held in His proper place, at the centre of our lives. He wants to be our big picture.

We complain today that we have no time. That was not God’s intention. He created us to spend time with Him. To enjoy Him, to talk with Him, to need Him. We get caught up in the whirl wind of our lives today where it is easy to forget that God wants our attention. Are the things we are doing evil if they pull us away from God? No, not necessarily, they are often good things. We work to eat, buy a house, clothe out bodies, ensure a good life for our children. The bad part of all of this is that we forget God, our mind’s eye is on paying the bills and we lose sight of what we were created for… to worship our creator God.

Don’t forget we are the star of creation. Jesus taught us that if we seek after God with our whole heart, He will provide the things we need. Could it be that we see the bills so large in our lives because we have our focus on them instead of the God of our lives? He want’s our attention, He asks for our attention. Lets give Him our attention and see what He does.