TLIC Family. Day 14. January 14: Sin is crouching.

THINK TOGETHER

What makes you angry? Have you ever felt so mad or angry that you couldn’t control yourself?

READ TOGETHER

After leaving the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had two sons: Cain and Abel. And guess what. They were both sinful just like their parents (did you know your parents are sinful too?). And because they sinned, because sometimes they disobeyed God, they needed to bring a sacrifice to God. Do you know what a sacrifice is?

When Adam and Eve sinned God killed an animal as a sacrifice for their sin. The blood of the animal reminded Adam and Eve that they deserved to die. But it also reminded them that someday God would send a hero to come and die in their place. And when Cain and Abel sinned, they too needed to bring a sacrifice to God so that they could show that they knew they were sinners, and trusted God’s promise of the coming hero.

The Bible says that Abel brought one of his lambs as a sacrifice to God. And this made God happy.

But Cain didn’t bring an animal sacrifice. He brought some vegetables. And God was not happy. And so Cain was very angry and jealous of his brother, Abel. Have you ever been jealous?

Listen to what God said to Cain when he got angry:

Genesis 4:6-7. ⁶ The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ⁷ 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.”

Can you hear how God is describing Cain’s sin? It is both inside of him and outside of him. Inside of him is anger and pouting. But sin is also outside of him. God tells Cain that sin is “crouching at his door” like an animal trying to bite him, and Cain must “rule over it.”

And there’s only one way to “rule over sin?” There’s only one true way to not be bad. And it’s not by trying harder and harder to be good. In fact, trying hard to be good might make you even more angry and jealous, because we can never be good enough.

Listen again to what God says to Cain: If you do well, will you not be accepted?

Now, is God simply telling Cain to be a good boy? Like when your parents, or teacher, or babysitter tells you to be stop being bad and to start being good? Not really.

When God tells Cain to “do well” he means that he wants Cain to worship him the right way. Not by trusting in his own good deeds, but by trusting in the sacrifice. Remember, worshiping God with the animal sacrifice was super important because it showed that we know that we can never be good enough and that we need a hero to come and be good for us.

Jesus came to be that hero for us. He came to be good in our place. And he came to be the last and greatest sacrifice for ALL sins. Now we never have to bring God another sacrifice for sins. We simply trust in Jesus.

Because of Jesus sin can no longer destroy us (inside or out).

With Jesus we can worship God instead of getting angry or jealous.

DO SOMETHING TOGETHER

Make a list of thigs that make you angry. Is anger caused by what is inside of us or outside of us? What’s outside of us stirs up what is already inside of us. Use a tea bag to illustrate this – the hot water just reveals what is inside.

The Little Mermaid also illustrates this principle. Ursula stirred up what was already inside of Ariel.

PRAY TOGETHER

Jesus,

You are always good even when I am not. Help me worship you by loving and trusting you.

Amen.

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