March 25th, 2010 
dave genesis 4:3-11: “in the course of time cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. and the LORD had regard for abel and his offering, but for cain and his offering he had no regard. so cain was very angry, and his face fell. 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 for you, but you must rule over it.”
cain spoke to abel his brother. and when they were in the field, cain rose up against his brother abel and killed him. then the LORD said to cain, “where is abel your brother?” de said,”i do not know; am i my brother’s keeper?” and the LORD said, “what have you done? the voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. and now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.”
i am finally taking old testament survey at school. i have been trying to avoid it for quite a while, but it finally got me. as you would expect we started out in genesis, and i the story of cain and abel struck me in a way that it never did before.
i came to the realization that the first manifestation of humanity’s fall was jealousy, resulting in murder. simple, i know. but, this realization made a lot of things click for me. it allowed to understand salvation on a much deeper level than i had before.
so, here’s a quick idea of what i’ve been coming to understand…
the world the way we made it:
God creates everything good. we decide we can do as well, if not better without God. we bring death to a creation designed for life by choosing our own way.
violence and death run rampant in the realm of humanity (and in the animal kingdom).
humanity is bent on self-preservation. all we care about is ourselves and all we desire is our own happiness, no matter the cost to anyone else.
a now for something completely different:
enter Jesus. a new kingdom. a new way. a new death. a renewed life.
“you have heard that it has been said…but i tell you!”
in Jesus, God most powerfully displays for us his intentions for humanity. God’s blessing is now opened up to the whole world, and we are called to extend that blessing to everyone.
this new and completely different way, this salvation that we have come to know, is not just a rescue from a nebulous afterlife. it is a here and now life changer. it doesn’t place a stamp of approval on the old way of doing things. it gives us new goals and new peace that we can’t help but bring to others.
we are new people, with new attitudes and a new heart bent on love instead of self-preservation. this new and opposite way changes us into people who place others before ourselves (including our enemies).
there is no hiding from those who love this new way. they are lovers to their death, even if their death is caused by those who know not this new way.
apart from Christ there is only the way of death. the way of self-preservation. with Christ there life. that’s a kingdom i want to be a part of.
the rest is for the birds.
-dave-
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Great post!