“… unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.”

We all want to do what we want to do the way we want to do it.

“All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way…”

Isaiah 53:6

The Bible characters were no different in their thought processes than us, and all of them who walked righteously with God had to come to Him in repentance and faith, just as we do. We look back at the sacrifice of Christ for our sin and they looked forward to the promised Redeemer, promised from the very start. As Eve and Adam sinned and fell, and brought the human race into spiritual death and alienation from God, God promised a coming Saviour who would crush the head of the serpent Satan, the instigator of evil. One day the price would be paid through the shed blood of the sacrifice of the Son of God, for the sin of people, women and men who would believe. It is through faith in the Saviour Jesus and what He did for us on the cross that saves us and gives us peace with God. This is the message in the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is all about trusting in God’s provision for us and not working out things to do for ourselves to ingratiate ourselves to God. We cannot save ourselves but must look to the work of God.

Abel, the son of Eve and Adam, chose the appointed way of God to come to Him in repentance through the shed blood. He offered the blood sacrifice of a lamb to make recompense for his sin, as a forward looking spectacle of the cross at Calvary. His brother Cain did not. He decided for himself what was suitable and what he could bring to God, that is the fruit of his own hands. He brought foodstuffs that he had grown and did not seek the sacrifice of a life to atone for his sin. God did not accept his sacrifice and so Cain was jealous to the point of murder against his brother.

God warns Cain against the virulence of the sin that has infiltrated his psyche. He is allowing the processing of hatred to lead him further and further into sin and further away from the loving Lord.

“If you do well, won’t it be lifted up? If you don’t do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it.”

Genesis 4:7

Cain does not heed the remonstrations of the Lord, to turn from his sin, repent and do well, so the inevitable happens. The crouching sin pounces and devours Cain. In the end there was tragedy and godly Abel lost his life and Cain was rejected by God and place under a dreadful curse.

We are not to be like Cain and seek our own ways and solutions to our moral dilemma, but humbly accept the provision of the Lord, which are offers as a free gift to us. We must acquiesce to the love of God, both His love for us and to have His love in our hearts. All other loves will fail or don’t last, and the eternal love of the Father is the only thing that will keep us to the end.

We must not go down the same mind-road as evil Cain, who followed the selfish and unloving ways of Satan, and ended up killing his brother! We are to love others as God loves and foster that love in our mind and heart, working it out in deeds daily. We are to love others and learn from them, especially the godly examples of our Christian sisters and brothers. Our motivations must be rooted in love or they will fail. Our motivation must be deeper than petty jealousies towards other people, which is the way of this fallen world mindset that we live in. We live in the love of God, who was willing to give all that we might live.