Monday, August 28, 2023
Paul’s
message to the believers at Rome is that of a story as old as Adam and Eve’s
first two sons; it’s a story of jealousy and choices (see Genesis
4). Cain was the
firstborn, and he despised his younger brother, Abel. God had instructed them what to bring as an
offering, but Cain stubbornly brought what he wanted, while Abel obeyed
God. When God rejected Cain’s “innovated
worship” and accepted Abel’s obedience, anger raised-up in Cain like a volcano
of jealousy; he killed his brother. That
was a momentary wrong decision fueled by bad judgment and independence. Unfortunately for Cain (as his parents before
him), when he sinned, he persisted in defending his petulance. When God judged him for it, he whined,
claiming God was being too hard on him. This
was resoundingly-odd, considering it was Abel rotting in a shallow grave. Cain spent the rest of his days wandering
like a lost soul. Indeed, he was lost,
and judged.
We’re still
playing “Cain and Abel” these days.
There has been war someplace on this planet without fail since the first
killing. As Paul wrote, God’s kindness
and patience with humanity is an offering of forgiveness. Sadly, human stubbornness is in abundant
supply. In the spirit of independence,
alive and thriving today, we don’t need some Jew from the antiquities to die on
a cross for us. We are good enough,
thank you…we’ll meet any challenge head-on.
Thanks, God, for the offer, but no thanks…we’re good.
Only we’re
not!
Even in the
short space of my lifetime I have witnessed the diminishing sense of kindness
and compassion that human beings have for each other. (You have only to observe Interstate road-rage
for a half-mile to validate that statement).
The value of human life plummets in the murder statistics. Porch-pirates, sales of home security systems,
with weapons to back them up are at an all-time high. As was the case with Cain and Abel, killing
(with weapons or words) is how we deal with the anger of a
lost soul. And we seem to get better
(darker) at it every year.
Many people
reject God’s kindness, simply ignoring what a magnificent, precious gift of
forgiveness they refuse….choosing instead an eternity of separation from their
Creator. That is the sad reality of evil…thinking
we stay strong by holding God at arms-length, we condemn ourselves to eternal
punishment.
Placing all that
in perspective requires us to turn and look at Calvary’s Lamb, Jesus, nailed to
a rough-hewn cross, beaten within an inch of life’s endurance, spat-upon, alone, abandoned, yet crying-out: Father, forgive them!
This is the
kindness of God; it is the offer of healing and hope.
For You Today
The choice is
always there…reject His forgiveness, or receive His goodness,
There are about 2,600 devotional
posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.
Title Image: Pixabay.com
Images without citation are in public domain.
Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT©
