Choices

Genesis 4:8-24

How important is knowing the history of your family?  It may play an important role in our behavior but must it do that, are you and I stuck in some pattern because of the actions of parents, grandparents, or even out ancestors?  It seems to be one of those yes and no answers; because of Adam’s sin we all show-up on planet earth with a dead spirit, we all have a void in our hearts that only a relationship with Jesus Christ can fill.  Therefore, because God loved you and me so much, and because God is holy and just, He sent His only Son to redeem us.  His Son is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of power.

I have derived that mankind has the freedom to choose; we can choose to bow our knee to the only true God, or we can live life void of God and try to be gods over ourselves.  Been there, done that, I was a poor success at being god, I just could not fill that void that the true and living God had put inside of me.  Not till I turned to Jesus, the Christ.

Have you given thought to the way we brand people because of an act of foolishness, or because of skin color, or where they live, or their status in life.  We often forget that they can choose, it is clear that Cain was a murderer, he killed his own brother, but Cain’s first son was a young man named Enoch, and Enoch may have had the odds against him, but Enoch had the freedom to choose.  The Bible does not tell us about his choices.  How his sons and daughters and their children had the pattern of grandfather as an example to follow or not to follow.  How did Enoch do, was the evil act of Cain forgotten?  If we take choice out of the picture that might have been how it would have played out.  Look at Genesis 4:18, “To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.”  Lamech is five generations removed from Cain, but Lamech has a choice, and he chooses to step back pass the example of Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, and Methushael to Cain, in his heart he has chosen to believe that Cain was a cool dude.  Genesis 4:23-24, “Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.  If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.”  Lamech chose to be his own little god, with the power to give and take life.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice