Cain

Many of us know this story. Adam and Eve’s sons, Cain and Abel, presented offerings to God. God accepted Abel’s offering, but He did not accept Cain’s offering. It’s not clear why, but it could be because of Cain’s attitude. We see in the scripture above how God is warning Cain. Cain could see the right and wrong. God told him specifically. Now, he had a choice to make.

Justification

How many times have we found ourselves in a similar situation? We know what we should do, but we don’t. We know what we should avoid, but we don’t. Afterwards, we could try to justify ourselves.

• It was too much temptation.
• It was the other person’s fault.
• I’m only human.
• Everyone does it.
• God’s still working on me.
• No one’s perfect.
• I can ask God to forgive me later.

Choice

The bottom line is that we have choices. God gave us a free will. That is both a blessing and a responsibility. He expects (and demands) that we choose wisely. The point is that we have a choice. No one forces us to sin; it’s our choice.

Every day, we probably make hundreds of choices — some good, some bad. We all have good thoughts and bad thoughts. Sin is always there, waiting. Our own lust, greed, and selfishness can easily take over. It’s our job to resist temptation and overcome the sin.

Satan

As if we didn’t have a hard enough time overcoming our own lust, we also have the devil trying to bring us down to his level. He knows that his destiny is sealed. He will never be spending eternity in the presence of God, and he wants to destroy as many of us as he can, as well.

The devil can seem intimidating, because he actually is powerful. Unfortunately for him, Jesus is stronger (unlimited power). If we depend on our relationship with Jesus, we don’t have to fear the devil.

Greater

Bullies can intimidate others, and get their own way for a while. If someone stronger comes along, they quickly find out they are no longer in charge.

The devil is the one who is “in the world.” If we have given Jesus control of our lives and received His forgiveness of our sins, we have the Holy Spirit (God) living in us. That’s why “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” We don’t have to sin; we can resist and overcome. God has called us to be strong.

Not Cowards

It takes courage to overcome sin. It’s easy to give in and do whatever we want. To live a godly life can be hard.

True strength is measured in godliness, not muscle.

Slow to Anger

It’s easy to think that because someone is strong physically, or rich, or even very smart, that’s what makes them a strong person; it’s not. Someone who is able to resist fighting back or reacting to someone else in anger has tremendous strength, because they have learned how to control their own human nature.

Pride

We are told many times in scripture about the dangers of pride. I have often thought about how pride seems to be a part of every bad decision we make. If we would only do what Paul tells us here in Romans, we would be far better off. If someone challenges us or belittles us, we have a tendency to let our “flesh” (our sinful part) rise up and fight back. If we never let what someone else says bother us, we never give them control over our mood and behavior. We also can live a more godly life. Remember what Jesus said as people were crucifying Him.

Distance

A number of years ago, I watched a movie where the teacher was telling the student that the best way to block a punch or kick from your opponent is to not be there. That works in the spiritual world, also. If we stay away from temptation, we can’t be “hit” by it.

Paul is telling his disciple, who was also a pastor, to flee, run away, from the temptations of money and youthful lusts. Instead, he should “pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace.” If we are chasing after (pursuing) godliness, we won’t be tempted to fall into sin.

Transformation

We don’t need to just be a little better in our daily lives; we need a total transformation. In other words, we need a metamorphosis along the lines of a tadpole becoming a frog or a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. The only way that this can happen is for our minds to be renewed by God. We need to think and live differently, because God is now living inside of us.

Discipline

Even though God will give us the strength, we still have to do this ourselves. We have to make the decision that we will resist the temptation to sin, whatever it is, even if we feel that we are “justified” in doing it.
The apostle Paul lived a truly godly life, wholly dedicated to the service of God and His body, the church. He was making the point, though, that he had to deal with the same temptations and weaknesses that we all do. He wanted to make sure that he ran far away from sin.

Cain

If only Cain had listened to God, he (and his descendants) could have lived far different lives. God doesn’t want us to just “blend in” with the world around us. He wants us to be different. We are called to be lights in a dark world.
Yes, sin is crouching right at our door every day, but so is God. He is right there to comfort us and give us strength to overcome all of life’s trials, tribulations, and challenges.
It’s true that sin is waiting at the door, but so is Jesus.