The People Problem

1

“The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?  If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:6-7)

At the root of every sin is a broken relationship.

From the beginning of the Bible to the end, God is clear about one thing: He opposes sin. And when you understand God’s nature and what sin is at its very core, you begin to understand why.

God is a relational being, and He created us in His image to be in relationship with God and with each other.

After mankind severed its relationship with God in the garden, it was not long before relationships with one another began to fracture. In Genesis 4, we get our very first look at life outside the garden, and the picture is dark and frightening.

The two oldest sons of Adam and Eve are having issues. Cain is jealous of his brother because of the regard that Abel received from God. Abel offered God the sacrifice that God required, but Cain brought God the sacrifice he considered appropriate, not the one that God deemed necessary. 

Cain disobeyed God, and the result was fractured relationships, first with God, and then with his brother. His broken relationship with God had left him vulnerable to sin’s power.

Despite that and despite his inadequate sacrifice, God reminded Cain that the opportunity to live righteously and in restored relationship was his for the taking: “Sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is to overtake you, but you should rule over it” (NKJV).

Unfortunately God’s words were not received by Cain with faith, and sin’s power left him blind. Blind to God’s ability to restore and to heal, and blind to who his real enemies were. 

Soon thereafter Cain’s jealousy drove him to rage, and eventually, to murder his brother.

Often we make the mistake of thinking that our issues are with people: that people are our enemy. In fact, God says that our inability to love people stems directly from being in a fractured relationship with Him.

“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20).

Luckily for us God has broken sin’s power (Romans 6:14) and created a way for us to live in a permanently restored relationship with Him. Being and remaining in right relationship with others begins and ends with being in right relationship with God.

So the next time you have an issue with people remember that people are never your problem. 

When you feel tempted to see people as your enemy, stop. Get right with God, and ask Him to open your eyes to the wondrous love He has for all people. 

All broken relationships are the result of sin. Are there relationships in your life that need to be restored? Forgiveness that needs to be offered or received? Ask you pray this week, as God to convict you of the ways you have been tricked into seeing people as your enemy, whether that be individuals, people of a different political party, different world view, or different ethnicity. Then repent and thank God for giving you a new lens through which to see the world and your place in it.

1 Comment

Hi Blake, your wonderful post is immediately applicable and helpful for tomorrow. My son's fiancee is graduating from college and my exhusband will be there. This was a perfect reminder to focus on my relationship with God and Molly's accomplishment. Thank you!

Leave a Comment

Comments for this post have been disabled.