Monday; September 18

I have watched a lot of baseball in my lifetime, and I have rooted for a lot of bad teams. However, every-once-in-a-while I will find myself in a pennant race – and this year is one of those years. As I invested myself in scoreboard-watching, one of the things I have noticed is that it is much easier to lose ground than to make up ground. If you string together a few wins, it seems like you can make some steady (but slow) progress but if you get into a losing streak, you can find yourself spiraling out of contention quickly. I realize it’s not true, but it seems like you have to win twice as many games to make up half as much ground – but, when the losing starts, the drop is quick and devastating.

The reason I bring this up relates to a situation I read about recently. No, it wasn’t in this week’s news, but it could have been. Genesis 4 chronicles the first murder in the history of man but it could have been prevented. When God came upon Cain, he was already in a foul mood, so God warned him, “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” (Genesis 4:7). Cain could have overcome his anger and lived in peace with Abel, but he gave into sin and the rest is literally history! Cain had a choice, but when he chose to kill Abel, his world fell apart quickly.

What will we do when sin comes knocking at our door? Let’s be strong enough to win the moral victories. When we do, it may not seem like we are gaining much ground, but it is a whole lot better than losing everything we have in our own downward spiral.

Think About It!

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