We continue with the thoughts from last week from a sermon I listened to by Kris Emerson. I planned on writing one article, but that one is turning into three. I guess I am not only long-winded but long-in-writing as well. Ha! Last week we talked about Adam and Eve, and this week we turn our thoughts to their son, Cain.
You will recall Cain and his brother, Abel, from Genesis 4. Both men brought God a sacrifice, but for Cain and his offering God had no regard. In fact, Hebrews 11:4 tells us Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain. Why? We do not know for sure. Traditionally, it has been thought that Cain disobeyed God in some way. Maybe he had a bad attitude while offering. I do not believe the text tells us for sure. That does not matter. What matters is Cain’s response. He became angry and killed his brother.
What can we learn from this incident? How do we respond when something we do is found unacceptable. Most of us are doing the things we are doing because we think they are the right things to do. We might be struggling with what the right thing is, but we usually end up taking what we think is the best course. Sometimes, those decisions have come with prayer, worry, study, etc, but we are trying to do the best we can. In the Disney world that we live in, the idea is to follow your heart, and you cannot be wrong. Then someone has the audacity to tell us we are wrong. How do we take it? We get angry, refusing to accept the information, willing to eliminate evidence against us. Kind of sounds like Cain in a nutshell.
It is tough to take a hard look at self and admit wrong. No one really likes to do that, but it is necessary to grow and mature. My goal as a Christian is to become more like Jesus, and that is not easy because it is admitting wrong which means denying self and changing. Are we willing to change when necessary?