A Word from Genesis 4

I want to invite you this morning to think about who you are and how your family shaped the way you respond to life. Are you patient or hot-headed? Do you hide your feelings or talk them out? When somebody hurts you, do you offer forgiveness or take revenge?

Well you know, families often create patterns that last for generations. And in today’s word from Genesis 4, we get an example of the problems that can cause—and of the hope we find in Jesus to break the patterns that keep us from abundant life.

Most of you, I’d imagine, know the story of how Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve, killed his brother Abel. And as a result, God said that he’d become “a restless wanderer on the earth” (4:12). And Cain was afraid, because he figured that anyone who found him would try to kill him. But God told him not to fear. “Anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over,” God said (4:15). And then He put a “mark” on Cain to provide protection.

Several generations later, and one of Cain’s descendants—a man named Lamech—was wounded by somebody. We don’t know why. But in response, he killed the guy! And then he told his wives, “If Cain is avenged seven times, the Lamech seventy-seven times” (4:24).

Do you see how a bad decision created a pattern that cast a shadow over an entire family?

But thankfully, change is possible. Generations after that, another descendant of Adam got asked by one of his friends, “How many times should I forgive someone who wrongs me? As many as seven times?” And that descendant—Jesus—said, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Mt. 18:2-11)

The Lord, you see, overturns the spirit of Lamech. And he invites us into a new family, in which it becomes possible to forgive, because we know how much we’ve been forgiven.

So today, may the life of God’s family shaped you to be the kind of person who can set a Christlike example those who come after you. Amen.