Consequences

We are beginning the year with a story about consequences. The things that we say and do happen in a specific context, not in a vacuum. When I am unkind to a person, I have the potential of hurting a lot of other people: I might hurt other people who are watching (observers are now in a bad mood), I might hurt the other person's family (that person may be crabby with family members), and I might hurt all the people that person comes across in a certain day. In addition, when I hurt someone else, I am also hurting myself (I am now a person who does unkind things.

Cain and Abel were brothers. Both of them thanked God by offering some of their possessions to the Creator, but one of them was not a 'cheerful giver.' Abel gave God some of his best sheep since he was a shepherd. Cain gave some of his average (or worse) produce, keeping the best stuff for himself. This bothered one of the brothers.

You might think that it bothered Abel since he was not able to keep his best stuff, but it didn't. It bothered Cain. When I hurt someone else, I am also hurting myself. Cain thought he was angry at Abel for making him look bad; Cain was really angry at himself for not being better, but took out his misdirected anger on someone else. It was a big mistake with a big consequence.

Psalm 96:13New International Version (NIV)

13 Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
    he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
    and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Judgment doesn't always look the way that we think it should - in God's way of working, it is better. God doesn't give us what we deserve, that pain and suffering was given to Jesus, instead. Our sins have consequences, but Jesus took our place and consequences for us, giving us forgiveness. The consequences for our sin was Jesus suffering, but the consequence of Jesus suffering was that we get His righteousness.

Let all creation rejoice!