“You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.” – Genesis 4:7
One fine day, the brothers Cain and Abel set out to make offerings to God. Cain prepared his choice selection of fruits and vegetables while Abel brought his choice firstborn lamb. As Cain laid out the colourful display of crops, Abel silenced the frightened lamb with a slit of its throat. Blood gushed out profusely and pooled around the base of the altar as the lamb shuddered weakly in its final death throes. It was a sickly sight to behold, but Abel did it anyway. As the brothers burnt their offerings, it turned out that God took pleasure in Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s. That upset Cain a lot. He probably wondered if God was playing favourites. Well, who wouldn’t want to accept an offering that is fuss-free and that does not require the involvement of death and bloodshed?
God sensed Cain’s anger and spoke thus, “Why are you dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right.”
Apparently, God knew that the brothers had been taught in making the right offerings to Him as He deemed appropriate, but Cain was not being accepted as he had refused to do the right thing. Abel was accepted because he did things according to God’s way – the right way. God was also admonishing Cain for more than not adhering to the rules of the offering ritual.
God continued to say, “But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”
I think that was a severe message for Cain. God read the thoughts of Cain’s mind and saw that he had some evil intent of exacting revenge on Abel for besting him in the ritual. Cain must have felt embarrassed and he wouldn’t be satisfied until he had shown that he was the more powerful one. God had warned him to refuse to do what is wrong, to subdue the evil urge and make it a slave, captive to righteousness. Otherwise, sin crouches at the door of his heart, ready to devour him whole.
Refusal to do the right thing paves space for sin to come and threaten our position of right standing with God. Such a refusal can be in a passive form where we are too apathetic to do good and it can also be in a deliberate form where we intentionally refuse to do good where needed. There are many reasons that people refuse to do the right thing. To name a few of them, some people think that it is not convenient as it involves some measure of discomfort; some have been very discouraged by past experiences; and some are simply so inert that they see no point in being proactive about doing the right thing.
When we refuse to do the right thing, we stray away from the shelter of God and give Satan the permission to send his pet minion called Sin. This misshapen, scaly, four-legged abomination creeps into our hearts, lusting to savour our souls and pollute our hearts with its venom. Lust, greed, hatred, pettiness, resentment, immorality, covetousness, selfishness, pessimism, negativity; you name it all!
God desires people to live doing the right things His way. It is not about what we think is right, nor what the world’s wisest sage things is right, but it is about what God says is right. The word of God reads, “But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love Him. That is how we know we are living in Him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.”(1 John 2:5-6). God wants people to be loving and respectful in the way they handle relationships so that they will grow healthily and enjoy companionship. God wants people to give when it is within their means so that the wealth can be extended to help the poor. God wants people to work hard so that institutions can be run effectively to serve the world’s needs.
Doing the right thing is not always easy, but people need to keep at it because it is the right thing that God desires us to do. When we are required to give an account for things that we should have done, we cannot say, “I was told to do thus” or “I didn’t do it because it wasn’t convenient”. God called us to do good, even if it means suffering just as Christ suffered for us. Jesus is our example, and we should follow in His steps. (1 Peter 2:21).
Cain chose to do what he thought was right, but he was dejected. Abel chose to do what was right in God’s eyes regardless how unpleasant, and he was accepted. What will you choose to do today?
March 5th, 2010 by 
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