The seed of sin, the power of grace

 Three days ago while doing my daily devotion from the book of Genesis 4, I read about the story of Cain and Abel. It wasn’t a new story because I have read it severally. However, while reading the story something caught my attention. The story here is about how two brothers, Cain and Abel, had gone to offer a burnt sacrifice to the Lord. The bible says that when the two brothers offered the sacrifice, only Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable to God. I have never quite understood why Cain’s sacrifice did not find favor with God (hoping to understand that one day), but my Christian Religious Education teacher used to tell us that Cain had offered low quality crops for sacrifice (not sure how true that is). The story continues that when God rejected Cain’s sacrifice, he become angry and this anger caused him to kill his brother. 

After reading this story, it hit me so hard that there had never occurred any other death or murder before Abel. This means therefore that Abel’s death was the first death. However, it had not been a natural death but had been the first murder. This left me wondering how Cain had learnt how to kill. This brought the realization that sin is and has always been in us. We were born sinners and have the seed of sin in us. It brought the thought of a few weeks old baby who in our own understanding, we believe that he/she is harmless. However, you may find this baby biting its mother’s breast while being breastfed and then smiles suspiciously while looking at its mother to see her reaction. This clearly indicates that the baby really understands what it has done and one may wonder therefore how the baby is able to know that what it has done is wrong.

From this illustration it is clear that we have sin in us and we also have the knowledge of right in us. The bible says that the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve ate was the fruit of knowledge of good and bad. Bad/ sin entered in us when they ate it. At the same time, the knowledge of good got in us. Furthermore, it is so clear that the power of wrong/sin is so strong in us and we cannot easily resist it. The only way we can resist it is through the power of Christ. The bible in the whole of Genesis shows us how after eating the fruit, man became so sinful that God regretted for  having created man that He resolved to destroy him but only spare Noah who had found favor with the Lord. However, even after the floods, man (by man I mean both male and female Gen 1:27) continued to sin. This resulted to emergence of the law which did not make things any better.

It was clear to God that nothing could help do away with the seed of sin in us than a greater power being planted in us and that would be the seed of righteousness through grace that came from the death of Christ. The bible says that this power is so great that even where sin increased, grace increased the more (Romans 5:20). This is so evident in our lives every day. Many times I have found myself about to sin ‘terribly’ but in these moments is when the Spirit’s voice is so loud warning me against it and in such moments, I experience the grace that helps me to say no to such sins (Titus 2:11-12). In other times however, when I fall and the Holy Spirit brings me down on my knees in repentance, through this grace I find forgiveness and renewal. This grace always makes me new when I sin and keeps me from sinning.

With the seed of sin in us, there is always the temptation to fall into all kinds of evil. However, we can always receive this power of grace and keep from sinning. This however can be received through accepting Jesus Christ in your life (Romans 10:9) and allowing Him to be your Lord and the master (Adonai) of your life. When you receive Christ in your life, it does not end there. You will need to practice holiness by relying on this same grace and saying no to sin. It will not be easier than before receiving Christ but there will be a greater power in you that will cause you to want to choose good over evil. You will need to trust in it and say no. Else, you will be just talking of holiness and not living it. I pray that God will help us all to utelise the power of grace in us.

God bless you and keep growing in Him.