Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” Mark 1:14-15
The kingdom of God comes into our lives when we move away from our selfish desires and choices, when we move away from a life of sin, and with the power of spirit begin living for the Lord. Jesus' message was clear: the way of sin is death and the way of God is life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
While Jesus' message is clear it is often difficult if not impossible to achieve. The question becomes: must we wait until heaven to live a life without sin? Or even a life with less sin? Can we live more holy and righteous lives here and now?
The stories in Genesis tell us a great deal about the power of sin in our lives. In particular, the story of Cain and Abel is quite illustrative. As Cain and Abel come to worship the Lord, each brings an offering for God. Cain works in the field and brings an offering of "the fruit of the ground" while Abel, a shepherd, brought the "firstlings of his flock." Each gave to the Lord as an act of worship, but God only received the offering of Abel. There is no explanation of why God did not receive Cain's offering in the text. what followed as an interesting exchange between Cain and God.
The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Genesis 4:6-7
God is telling Cain that it is possible to live a righteous life; it is possible to "do well." God also warns Cain that the power of sin is lurking at the door and has a desire for you. It is possible to do well (at least in theory) but most strikingly, sin has a desire for Cain. This is a profoundly powerful statement. Sin desires Cain. He can do well, but sin is preying upon him, nudging, pleading, instigating, and tempting him.
The story of what Cain does next is more well known. In anger and jealousy he takes his brother Abel to the field and murders him. While this story is often pointed to as the archetype for sibling rivalry, it is less a story of conflict between Cain and Abel, and much more about the conflict between Cain and God. Further, it is the conflict within Cain over how to handle his sinful desires that leads him astray.
The question for us is: if sin is knocking on our door, desiring to lead us astray, do we have any hope of living life for God? Are we inevitably caught in a life full of sin?
Sin has real power in our lives as it not only leads us away from God spiritually, but has real effects for others and the world. The consequences of sin have lead to violence, oppression, war, greed and so much more. Sin is not just an individual problem it is a world problem.
-Is it possible, through the faith of a few, to make the world more peace and loving?
-Can we through Christ, live lives that are better and make a positive difference?
-Or is our world hopelessly lost and beyond redemption until the Lord returns?
My prayer is that through the grace of God, and the empowering of the Holy Spirit, we might live lives worthy of the gospel. That because of Jesus' love for me, I might be more loving. Because of the amazing gift of grace, I might be more gracious. Because God includes me as a child of God, I might includes others in the same way. If we can love like God loves us, I truly believe our world's problems would improve. Perfect and sinless?doubtful. Better and worth working for? absolutely! As the vision for life with Christ found in Ephesians reminds us:
You are living a brand new kind of life that is continually learning more and more of what is right, and trying constantly to be more and more like Christ. Ephesians 4:13
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