Mastering Desire Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: Mastering Desire-------------------------- Date: 9/10/2001 Keywords: "desire" "mastery" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Genesis 4:1-8* 1. Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, "I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD." 2. And again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. 4. And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5. but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. 6. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7. "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." 8. And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Questions 1. Why did Cain become angry? (v. 5)   2. What did his anger move him to do? (v. 8)   3. What did God tell Cain to do with his anger? (v. 7)   Practical help Cain committed the world’s first murder. Anger reared its head because God didn’t accept his offering, while God did accept Abel’s offering. Cain allowed his anger to provoke him to a catastrophic act: he killed his own brother! Yet God had given him the instruction that would have averted that catastrophe. He told him to "master" sin, rather than allow it to master him (which it unfortunately did). The means of victory for Cain were not given in Genesis 4. It appears that God assumed Cain knew that there was something within him that would have made it possible for him to resist the temptation to fall into sin. The fact of his humanity (even his fallen humanity) implied the potential for mastery over temptation to sin. Part of the glory of being created in the image and likeness of God is the capacity to say, "No!" to sin’s temptations. There is Good News in the warning God gave to Cain for anyone who struggles against the monster of porn. Internet porn is crouching at the door. It is a ravenous animal that wants to consume you. However, it is possible for you to triumph over your "beast," as surely as it was possible for Cain to have victory over his. You are not a slave to your emotional pulls. You are a man or a woman created in the image and likeness of God who does not need to say "Yes!" to a base desire to view porn. One final thought: Every HUMAN BEING possesses the capacity to resist temptation to sin. Every CHRISTIAN also possesses the added strength provided by a relationship with almighty God! To find out how to become a Christian, click here. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2001 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."