Week 1 Genesis 4
Last fall I read through the NT and got a lot of detailed information about managing the Dark Side of my life. But even here in early-Genesis there’s a helpful clue about dealing with my instinct for badness.
After Cain had killed his brother the Lord told him: if you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.
[I’m concerned enough about getting an accurate read that I cross-check this verse in a dozen other versions of the bible. They use slightly different language but (fortunately) say pretty much the same thing.]
Anyway the key phrase for me was the one about ‘sin desiring to have me’ and the advice about me ‘having to rule over it’ (quite a few versions use ‘rule over it’ but others say ‘master it’ or ‘take dominion over it’ or ‘conquer it’).
The big (practical) question is: how do I do that? How do I ‘master sin’? How do I ‘take dominion over it’? Detailed advice to Cain is thin-on-the-ground but the Lord gives one applicable & doable recommendation: ‘do well’ (some versions say ‘do right’).
Q: how can Cain master sin?
A: by doing well.
There’s no doubt more to Mastering Sin than that. But Doing Well sounds like an excellent starting-point.
Note: quote from Genesis 4:7 (NIV) (plus Amplified & International-Standard-Bible & Living-Bible)