Thoughts from The Bible

Thoughts from the Bible

Wednesday, 29 May 2024 07:47

A Tale as Old as Time
by Cody Anderson Cornith Missionary Baptist Church

If you’ve been following along with the articles, you may have noticed that John has become very repetitive with the thought of loving one another. Last week’s article talked about there being two spiritual fathers and how their respective offspring are a reflection of their true spiritual father. Again, in these two simple verses, we will see what it means to love and how that relates to the Father.
“For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous,” (1 John 3:11-12, ESV).

When I read this, I thought of the line “a tale as old as time.” Maybe I thought of it because this account happened almost literally at the beginning of time. Or maybe because John has gone on and on about the same subject. Here, John wants to be clear that this is not a new message, but what they’ve already heard before. Love seems like something that should come natural to us, but from the very beginning, it has been against our nature. Although Cain and Abel came from the same physical parents, obviously their spiritual fathers were different. Cain is acting in the exact opposite way of love. Love is something that brings people together, but murder permanently separates.

Cain and Abel had the same parents, yet they are totally different. They would have been taught the same things, done the same activities, and had their parents undivided attention. If this would have happened today, we could have said, “Oh, they were influenced by different people.” Or, “They are culturally different.” However in the beginning, it was simply Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel. The account in Genesis 4 does not label Cain as a God-hater or an atheist. It might surprise you to find that Cain is described as a worshiper of God. I find this the most terrifying. Someone that looks just like us, acts just like us, worships at the same church as us, may be a child of Satan.

For Cain to have shown love would have been to follow what God had prescribed in worship. Obviously, Cain did not do this, and that’s the reason why his worship was not accepted. I want to pose a question to you. Where does God in His Holy Word give us permission to worship Him as we see fit? There is one true way to worship the Holy God, and I believe that way starts with a loving heart we receive from our heavenly Father. I’ve heard it throughout my life, people blame God for Cain murdering his brother. The question is, “Why did Cain murder his brother?” Most of the time people answer, “Because God accepted Abel’s offering and not his.” But Scripture is clear that it is because Cain is of the evil one and rebelled against what the holy God had required of worship. His deeds came from that. It wasn’t the action of God that led to the murder of Abel. It was the father of Cain that had worked rebellion into Cain’s heart.

Cain and Abel had the same physical parents, same upbringing, and same prescribed worship from a holy God. The difference was their spiritual father. Who do you belong to spiritually? Most would say, at the very least, “I’m not of Satan.” But if you are not born again, with the spirit of God within you, then you are a child of Satan.
A heart of love and a heart of evil is the difference between life and death. If you do claim God as your father, you are to love. We will see what this looks like in future articles, but for now love in the way the Bible defines it. It is the very character of God. The One who is slow to anger, but does not let sin go unpunished, who is gracious, and yet just. Love like He loves.