“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” Genesis 4:7

 If You Do Well

I had an eye-opening chat with my adult son the other day. We were talking about why adult children lie to their parents. My son, who walked through this season already, said they lie so they don’t disappoint their parents. I explained to him that a parent would much rather be disappointed than deceived. And besides, lies are generally found out eventually, making the original choice a double disappointment. The son or daughter knows what choice the parent wants them to make—and knows the parent believes it will benefit the child to make that choice—but they would rather live another way, and so they hide behind a lie.

It made me think of our own moral choices. We are faced daily with choices to do things God’s way, or not. As in our youth, sometimes it doesn’t seem to matter whether the choice to do things God’s way will benefit us. Can we hide? If we are the least bit familiar with Scripture, we know that we cannot hide from God—He sees everything. Since we can’t hide from God, and can’t lie to Him (because He knows everything), the only lie we can tell is to ourselves.

We are so good at making excuses for our behavior. If we are being petty, it is because we are so irritated with someone else’s behavior. If we are snappish, it is because we are SO BUSY. If we are angry, it is because we “have a right” to be. If we are unforgiving, it is because someone else deserves to be punished for what they did to us. If we are living in sin, it is because it is “too hard” to fight against Satan. If we don’t share the hope that is in us, it is because we are shy, or not a people-person, or afraid we won’t know how to answer their questions. If we don’t walk in our gifts and calling, it is because we think someone else can do it better, or we will only look foolish for our feeble attempts.

My son had every excuse for not living up to expectations, as long as they were our expectations and not his own. But when he matured, he found that his expectations for himself were exactly what we had instilled in him as a youth. He is learning that honesty and integrity are a good defense, and lies are no defense at all.

I don’t know that God is actually ever disappointed in us. Nothing we do surprises Him—He sees it coming every time. But for our own sakes He has laid out a plan for us to live righteous, consecrated lives unto Him. If we do not do well, sin lies at the door, ready to devour us—but we are to rule over it.

“Heavenly Father, by Your grace and ever-present help, may we rule over the sin in our lives. May we not make excuses for our poor choices. We ask You to expose to us the ways we have deceived ourselves, knowing full well that we have never deceived You. Amen.”