Walking with the Wise #258: Forsaking Cain

“A man of violence entices his neighbor
and leads him in a way that is not good.”
—Proverbs 16:29

The story of Cain and Abel is one of the first and simple eruditions of sibling rivalry—and the abiding and bloody testimony at how dark and dreadful our sinful condition really is. Two brothers—both privileged citizens of a new earth, and the first born under the reign of sin and into the reality of a fallen world, seek to please God at the beginning of time. The first, Abel, being a shepherd, brings a blood sacrifice out of the first and best of his sheep. While the second, Cain, a farmer, brings a portion of produce, neither the first or best. Abel’s offering pleased the Lord, while Cain’s did not (cf. Genesis 4:4).

Cain, upon hearing God’s disappointment with his offering, concocts a scheme whereby he would kill his brother, rather than heed God’s Word, check his own heart and correct his offering which, upon doing so, would incur God’s favor (cf. Genesis 4:5-6). Electing to eliminate his brother rather than stem the tide of sin running rampant in his own spirit, he lured his brother out into the field in order to do evil to him, just as the “violent” man in today’s passage entices his neighbor. Cain’s life shows the reality of sin in our own lives and our capacity to do evil to the closest to us. Not only must we be on guard against men and women of violence who desire to do us mischief, but we must guard our own desires and heed the words of the Lord that were spoken to Cain before he plotted to kill his brother,

“Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it”—Genesis 4:6-7.

While on this side of heaven, sin crouches at the door of each and every person who bears God’s image. And it behooves each one of us to check the poison of sin that runs through our veins, so that we might not be like

“Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous”—1 John 3:12.

Put to death any hint of jealousy, wrath, or hate within you, for if left unchecked, it will erupt in a moment of wrath, destroying those closest to us.

Are you harboring ill-will to someone around you? Do you find yourself plotting in your heart against a loved one, friend, or co-worker? Renounce it! Jesus Christ died all of our sins and we do well to appropriate His death as judgment toward the sin we harbor in our hearts. We must put it to death and then clothe ourselves with love toward our fellow man in the hope that God will be merciful to them, forgiving their sins and transforming them into the glorious and weighty image of His Son who gave Himself up for us in order that we might have life in Him. Amen.