We live by faith, not by sight.

In writing this, He is drawing a pretty intense line between the life of faith (living this life from God’s perspective toward our circumstances) and sight ( living this life from the circumstances we face toward God).

In writing this, Paul is also painting a clear picture of what it means to be a Christ follower.

We live this life by what the Father has spoken over us, not by what the world and our circumstances suggest.

We have to continually fight the power of suggestion.

We wonder why God seems silent in the middle of our brokenness. I would suggest that maybe He is not being silent, but has already spoken into the situation and we have chosen to allow the circumstances we are going through to dominate the words that the Father has spoken concerning how He views us and what He has promised us as His children.

I say all that to say that the life of faith has a huge impact on how we love one another. This past Sunday Twon spoke from Genesis 4 and the story of Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel are the first offspring of Adam and Eve and the first set of siblings.

In the story the two brothers bring a sacrifice before the Father. AS they bring their sacrifices, Abel’s is accepted and Cain’s is rejected.

The first sibling rivalry.

Although Cain’s initial sacrifice was rejected, God spoke and said ” “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.”

God was giving Cain another chance.

It is not the Father’s heart to reject us.

The Father spoke that if Cain would do what is “right” then His sacrifice would be accepted.

The Hebrew word for “right” in that verse is “yatab” which means to be glad and joyful. It seems like Cain was taking issue with the Father long before the sacrifice he brought was an issue.

God was basically saying, “Cain, your heart is dark toward me. This is not an act of relationship, but obligation to you. It is not something you see as beautiful and intimate, but an obligation.”

Picture the posture of Cain’s heart. He has heard about the Garden. He has heard from his father and mother what life was like in the Garden. I’m sure from the retelling of the story his perception of God began to be skewed.

“How could a loving God kick us out of the Garden?”

“How could a loving God reject us?”

God’s goodness was called into question.

Cain hardened his heart and it gave him a twisted view of a Father that truly longed to be with him. It made the sacrifice that He offered tainted by distrust and anger.

The rejection of the sacrifice was the icing on the cake to his already distorted “sight”.

Cain chose to live in his perceived rejection and not what God actually spoke to him or his family.

Notice the last thing the Father spoke to Cain. “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.” God saw what was gong on and was trying to get Cain to see it as well. The Father saw that if Cain could not change his “sight” it was going to lead to something bad. Something other than the Father’s love was going to rule over his heart.

And it did happen. Cain killed his brother.

The first murder.

We can learn something from this. Cain’s distorted perspective of the Father lead to murder. Cain’s lack of faith in the Father lead to death. When Cain lived life from his reality toward God it laid the foundation for oppression.

Our faith has a direct impact on how we love or oppress those around us. If we live in a place of lack, dictated by our circumstances, we will view relationships through the lens of what this person and relationship can do to help get me out of my current state of hell on earth.

Oppression and injustice are birthed from the place of emaciated faith.

Look at the world around us. As we consume and view this life from the place of lack, we seek to rise up and oppress those around us so that we can “meet our needs”.

When we live from this place, like Cain we see the Abels of the world and we must destroy them to prove that our perspective and perceived need is true.

On the flip side, when we live life from God’s perspective toward our circumstances, we will view relationships as they were originally intended to be, whole. Relationship becomes a thing of beauty not death.

May we be people who allow the Father to define us.

May we be people who live from Heaven toward Earth.

- Brennan Manning “Souvenirs of Solitude”