My son is a pretty incredible young boy. He’s six and asks the most wonderful questions. He’s a deep thinker and a critical thinker — skills I hope to further encourage in him as I think they are so valuable. They also make for great conversation. He was a bit of a late talker. He came into my life just before his second birthday and really only had a handful of words and phrases. Shortly thereafter his language exploded and I often joke that once he started talking, he never stopped! Although he has the propensity to be loquacious, he often says really profound things.
A while back as we were leaving the parking lot from running some errands, he piped up with the question, “does sin overtake us?” I gave him a pretty simplistic response that it can if we let it, but I’d like to explore that question a bit more because I think it’s a good one,
I’ve been reading a fair amount in Genesis and have been referencing the following passage a lot lately. This is God speaking to Cain after his offering is rejected and his brother Abel’s is accepted.
“Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.””
Genesis 4:6-7 NIV
Cain goes on to murder his brother. It would seem that he did not find a way to rule over sin and that his sin nature overtook him instead.
“The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast.” Proverbs 5:22 NIV
We can so easily become ensnared by sin and let one bad choice lead to another. Even those who know and follow Jesus continue to wrestle against their sin nature. Hear what the apostle Paul says:
“We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”
Romans 7:14-20, 22-25 NIV
So what do we do? How do we rule over sin. We are called to be on our guard so that we are not overtaken.
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
1 Peter 5:8 NIV
Paul goes on to tell us,
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21 NIV
We can be overcome by evil and sin and must make a conscious choice and an active effort to overcome sin, by the power we have in Jesus to do good.
In John’s gospel, he writes of Jesus:
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5 NIV
And in 1 John he goes on to say,
“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
1 John 4:4 NIV
Because Jesus has overcome sin and darkness, we can, too, when we put our faith in him and live by the Spirit. Let these verses be an exhortation to all of us as we live in this fallen world, and especially this Easter season as we recognize the salvation and power that we have through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
But wait, that’s not all… my son had a follow up question: “does God overtake us?”
We have this power living in us — does that mean God overtakes us?
I had a hard time answering this one, so I will leave that one for you to wrestle with, perhaps even as Jacob wrestled with God. What do you think?
At the Water's Edge 
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