When Adam and Eve were judged for their sin, in the Garden of Eden, they may have been tempted to think that God had overreacted. After all, was sin that big a deal? Was it really that important to keep all of God’s commands? Wasn’t a ‘little’ slip, here and there, all pretty okay....?
If that was what the guilty pair thought then they were soon in for a lesson, one that they would never forget. Not too long afterwards Adam and Eve had the great joy of bringing a son into the world whom they named Cain. Like all of us who have been parents, it doesn’t take much imagination to think that they must have been so proud of the new arrival.
What they didn’t realise was that this tiny, adorable, bonny baby which they so cherished was to go down in history as the world’s first murderer! In time Cain killed his brother through envy and spitefulness. Surely, it was at that point that Cain’s parents got a much fuller understanding of just what a dreadful and destructive thing sin is.
And sin is devastatingly powerful; it separates parents and children, husbands and wives, friends and neighbours. Sin destroys even in the most intimate of relationships; how many of us have stood amazed as a couple, who were once head over heels in love with each other, now tear strips off each other? Sin pollutes even that which is more pure; how tragic when the beautiful sexual intimacy between a husband and a wife is soiled through the entrance of a third party. Sin is never satisfied; who can calculate the immense damage done by crossing the line ‘just one time’, by telling ‘a wee white lie’? Sin is never a one-time affair, but more like a ‘habit’. And as someone has said; take away the ‘h’ and you still have ‘a bit’. Take away the ‘a’ and you still have ‘bit’. Even take away the ‘b’ and you still have ‘it’.....Sin will never stop of its own accord.
Yes, sin is powerful- much more powerful than we are- but there is something infinitely more powerful than sin; God’s grace! Even when Cain sinned so terribly, God, amazingly, put a mark upon him to protect him from punishment! Moreover, because of God’s grace, another baby was born- God’s perfect Son. God sent his beloved Son to die on the cross so that there would be total forgiveness for everybody who would trust in Jesus. And what’s more, for all who believe, God is pleased to give them His infinitely powerful Holy Spirit to strengthen them in the fight against sin.
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