Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 4 before reading the devotional below.
Well, things are going south pretty fast here in Genesis. Sin entered the world and within a generation brothers are murdering each other. It’s a grim but telling reality of just how destructive sin is. While we are hopefully not going around murdering people, we often engage in the root of the problem: comparison.
Cain becomes jealous of his brother Abel and ends up killing him. Why? Ultimately he felt that God loved Abel more. In verses 6 and 7, God warns Cain that “sin is crouching at the door…” What might have happened if Cain had taken the way out in that moment instead of allowing his anger to carry him into even deeper sin?
Here’s your freedom for today:
Doing what is right always brings you into freedom.
Cain was angry. He felt hurt when he compared himself to his brother. Yet his anger was misdirected. He had given God a half-hearted gift, but his brother had brought the best of what he had. The comparison was not in the size of the offering, but in the desire to give to God. Cain could not see that his heart was not in the right place. Instead, he projected blame onto God and Abel. Had he listened to God in that moment and taken an honest look at himself, he would have experienced freedom. He could have been closer to God. Instead, he makes things worse and becomes even more separated from God. Choose the path to freedom today — take an honest look at yourself and seek God instead of blaming others.