The story of Cain and Abel is one of the most told Christian biblical stories. In case you haven’t heard it before, here’s the summary; Cain killed his brother Abel. Last week we learned about how sin affected Cain. In this week’s post, we will be flipping the case to observe Cain’s response to sin. It is true how powerful sin can be. Nevertheless, it is only as powerful as we let it be…especially in this new era that we have victory over sin through Christ.
Evil thoughts and thoughts of evil.
Before Jesus came, we were slaves to sin, and most of the time, we had to follow its orders. It was almost impossible for Cain not to fall victim to sin. But if we look deeper into the story, we see something interesting about Cain. God provided a way of escape but Cain ignored it.
When God tells Cain about sin waiting to have him, notice how Cain doesn’t respond or ask God for help (Gen. 4:7). In Mark 14:29-31, we have a similar incidence. Jesus told Peter about the sin he would soon commit and Peter immediately promised to remain faithful. Although things did not turn out that way, it is obvious that Peter had no intention to allow sin to overtake him. The sin he committed was of the head and not of the heart. In Cain’s instance, it was a sin of the heart because it was premeditated. The scripture tells us how Cain lured Abel to the field and killed an unsuspecting Abel.
The scripture tells us this: There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (1Cor. 10:13, NIV). There is always a way of escape but the only people who eventually don’t fall into the trap are those who follow the way of escape.
One way by which we reject God’s way of escape for us is by dwelling on those evil thoughts. It is somewhat understandable that Cain would feel bad that his sacrifice was rejected when his brother’s was accepted and the devil saw the opportunity to send evil thoughts through his mind. Cain had the option of discarding those thoughts or dwelling on them. As he dwelled on them, those evil thoughts became thoughts of evil. Thoughts of evil eventually degenerate into evil actions.
Some of us are like Cain. Even when God warns us to keep our guard up against an impending sin, we still go ahead to meditate over it and act it out. No one is immune to evil thoughts. It is the devil’s way of sending temptation our way but if we must truly be above sin, we must, like Peter, be irritated by the very thought of it, giving it no room for meditation. What you have spent time thinking about, soon, you would act upon. This is why we are told to make it a habit to meditate on God’s word.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8 NIV
Am I my brother’s keeper? Yes! You are.
When God asked Cain where Abel was, he replied “Am I my brother’s keeper”. This exact scenario is playing out in today’s world, even in the church. We can dare to say the reason Cain felt it was okay for him to kill his brother was because he never saw himself as his brother’s keeper. He didn’t see themselves as one and the same but rather as enemies, of which one person had to emerge as a winner. For better understanding, to be one’s brother’s keeper is to care for them as you would for yourself. It is similar to saying you’ve got someone’s back.
This lack of care and unity is the problem of the church today and the world at large. The spirit of oneness and brotherly love that should be amongst us is no longer there. We no longer see ourselves as each other’s keepers so people cheat, ride, hurt, and even kill others.
Galatians 6:2 tells us to bear one another’s burdens and multiple places in scripture tell us to let brotherly love continue. We are stronger and better defended against the devil when each person is watching over another person’s back. We are stronger when we love one another. Every Christian should be their brother’s keeper. That is the only way we would remain in unity and love, and eventually influence the world positively.
Repentance starts with remorse
If there was one thing Peter exhibited, it was remorse. He felt bad for what he had done and that godly sorrow led him to repentance (Lk. 22:61-62; 2 Cor. 7:10). Cain felt no bit of sadness for what he did. When God asked him where his brother Abel was, it was not because God did not know. Rather, it was God presenting Cain with an option of repentance. One would expect that he would come clean immediately, confessing the wrong he had done. However, Cain did not choose this easier path. He chose to lie. (Gen. 4:9)
Later on, God gives his verdict. It didn’t matter to Cain that he had disobeyed God. It didn’t matter to him that he had become the first murderer ever. It did not matter to him that it was his own brother he killed. None of that mattered to him. We only see Cain express a form of distress when God gives him a punishment. Cain was more dismayed about his punishment than of the gravity of the sin itself. He grew weary because he felt someone else would see him and kill him…the irony of it all.
From this, we can understand that no one ever comes into true repentance until they feel some sort of remorse for the wrong they have done, not the punishment they could get. The same thing happened with the Israelites when they went into idolatry. They began to fear God’s wrath instead of acknowledging their sin. The problem with this is that we would never really repent of that sin. If provided another opportunity, with an assurance of little or no punishment, we would commit it again, maybe to an even greater degree.
In this story of Cain, we see a dimension of God. Despite what Cain did and his still unrepentant heart, God showed him mercy when he cried for mercy. God is full of mercy. Cain pleaded with God to go easy on him with the punishment and God listened to him and vindicated him (Gen. 4:13-15). His punishment was not totally removed but at least he got a much lighter sentence.
It doesn’t matter how far you have gone, you’re one plea away from receiving God’s mercy. If you have found yourself in Cain’s situation today, in need of God’s mercy, if you realized that without God’s mercy, you would be easy prey for the enemy, say this prayer: Dear God, please have mercy on me.
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