A Newish Oldest Sin!

Dear Faith Family,   

 

"We should not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Becasue his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous." (1 John 3:12)


The spiritual season of Lent, like the physical seasons it bridges, arrives every year whether we like it or not. And, if we are honest, most of us would not consider this our favorite season. After all, in Lent, we are challenged to ask questions that can make us a bit uncomfortable with ourselves. Questions about how we are living in the light of the Kingdom, and if there are any areas where we are still walking in the darkness. 

The prolonged journey of Lent seems to all but require us to take an honest look at ourselves and our lives with God. In this way, Lent, by the sheer power of calendaring, forces us to be aware of the struggle to be and become human, truly. A struggle: when we are not busy trying to overcome it, we often medicate or distract ourselves from thinking about it. Good thing for us, as our final kingdom epiphany and the proverb that followed revealed, it is in the midst of this shared struggle where God is most active. 

But why? Why is the struggle of being human where God is active? Well, to answer that question, we have to tell The Story of Sin. A story in which your story and mine, all of humanity's story, really, is intertwined. A story that takes us out of an immortal life (Genesis 3) and into the taking of a life (Genesis 4). And while, rightly so, the murder gets the majority of the attention, it is the motive for the murder that we are exhorted to consider on this stretch of pilgrimage. 

As we discussed on Sunday, what made Cain "of the evil one," as John would later write, was not what he offered to God (or didn't) but his off-the-mark knowledge of God and himself that he shared with the evil one in Genesis 3. A twisted understanding that feels a lot like envy. 

"...envy," argues the Cappadocian Father, Gregory of Nyssa, "became the way to all evils that have shown up after it." Envy, while often associated with jealousy, is rather a discontentment or restless longing with what we have and who we are. We are envious when we misperceive the goodness or graciousness of our situation and person because we compare it with another's. 

In the story of our beginnings, we notice that something in both the serpent and Cain lacked a right(eous) understanding of God's goodness, and so their inherent goodness as beings fashioned by God. They desired something different, something more or other, something that they saw in another. And so, they willfully set out to take it, or at least keep the other from keeping it. 

Think about that for a moment. Discontentment is the source of sinful--missing the mark--actions. For, as Gregory argues and the story of Genesis 4 describes, when we are envious, we do not "will to perceive the good," but instead "perceive the opposite of good," missing God's grace in what we have and who we are, as well as making an enemy or obstacle out of both God and brother. 

In a day and age where discontentment is the main marketing strategy for products, politics, and the like, perhaps it would be wise of us to consider the motivation within our story's start, as well as God's response. Here is how you and I can do so today, and the remainder of the week: 

TODAY

  • Prayerfully and slowly, and with the concept of "envy" as a fountain for all other vices atop your mind, read Isaiah 58:1-12, letting the exhortation of the LORD sink into your heart and mind. 


THURSDAY

In what ways do I make little of grace by not grieving sin (my own and others)? 
&

Where have I recognized God's encouragement to resist envy and sustaining mercy when I failed to do so? 


FRIDAY

  • Prayerfully, slowly, and with the concept of "discontentment" as a fountain for all other vices atop your mind, read Matthew 25:14-46, letting the parable & proverb of JESUS sink into your soul. 


SATURDAY

  • Spend ten minutes asking and letting God do what Psalm 139:23-24 encourages: 

"Search me, O God, and know my heart! 
Examine me, and know my disquieted thoughts! 
See if there be any grievous way in my living,
And lead me in the way ancient and everlasting!"


Love you faith family. God bless.