Sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you but you must master it

As part of a hospital visitation ministry years ago, I remember talking to a man who had just had a heart attack. The doctor had told him that he had to give up smoking, and he told me “I’ll be alright as long as I don’t get the craving!” Good luck with that! I was reminded of the saying of Oscar Wilde “I can resist everything except temptation!” In this morning’s quote from Genesis 4:7, the Lord was warning Cain that he needed to master his anger. The metaphor of sin as a lion crouching at the door ready to pounce and master us, is meant to show is that sin cannot be dealt with passively. It necessitates a strong response. We cannot just “let her slide,” that will not cut it!

In Cain’s case, if he did not take strong measures to curb his anger, it would, like an aggressive weed in the garden, blossom out of control. But it’s not just anger that needs to be dealt with aggressively, it’s any sin. I find it helpful to think of our doing the wrong thing, as the default mode. If I do nothing, sin’s grip on us multiplies. For example, it is much easier for the alcoholic to stop before the first drink (not saying it’s easy), than it is to stop after the ninth! How many times in a single night can you have “just one more?” Perhaps it’s infinity!

What I am saying, is that is so much easier to catch these things early on. The picture that I have of this, is of it being like like a giant whirlpool, in which if you swim at the outer edges it is relatively easy to escape. But the longer you stay in the pool, the closer you get to the vortex, and at some point you will be dragged down into it. In particular it is a true saying that he who sins is a slave of sin, but thankfully it is also true that if the Son shall set you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:34, 36). Indeed when we have blown it, there is help. In fact He has promised that He will work in us both in our desires (the cravings) and the wherewithal to do what needs to be done. The premise to this promise is that we “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12, 13). His part in this, is to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. But he will not do what we can do for ourselves, and you can be sure that He will stretch us in this area (Philippians 4:13).

Father, in the recovery circles in which I move, I have seen instant delivery from destructive habits, and I have also seen others struggling for years to overcome those same habits. But those who have received instant deliverance, inevitably have gone on to struggle with other things. We are individuals Lord, You know our individual needs, and You act accordingly. I thank You this morning Lord for the victories of the past, and for the ongoing victories of the present as I take one day at a time. I know that You who have begun a good work in me will bring it to fulfilment on the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). And I give you all the honour and glory and praise in His precious Name Amen