Will You Master It?

John Nash was a brilliant mathematician who won a Nobel Prize for his original work in mathematics. For those of you have seen the 2001 Oscar winner A Beautiful Mind, you know this story. (Spoiler Alert) Nash was plagued by a form schizophrenia that caused him to create images, theories, and people that were only real in his mind. He struggles with these delusions for the majority of his life. His behavior almost destroys his marriage, family, and job. He begins to take medication and the delusions go away, but so does his brilliance. He struggles for months whether or not it is worth it to continue the medication and have no delusions, but no brilliance. He eventually comes to a breaking point where he chooses to go off the medication. His intelligence returns along with the hallucinations. For those of you who have seen the movie, you know that he chooses to live the rest of his life this way. He learns to ignore the hallucinations, though they never really disappear. He no longer allows them to be the masters of his life.

Genesis 4:7 says, “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 master it.” God is very clear of our options. If we follow him and give him our all, then we will be accepted. We will be looked upon with favor, just as Abel was.

But when we do not do what is right…

Sin is crouching at our doorstep. It wants nothing more than to devour us. We must master it. Every day we will sin. Every day we will fail. Every day sin will be crouching at our doorstep. Every day sin will desire nothing more than to devour you and steal you away from God. John Nash’s delusions and hallucinations were constantly crouching at his door. They constantly desired to ruin his life, and nearly did.

Sin can and will ruin your life if you do not master it. John Nash mastered his disease. He mastered his hallucinations. We must master sin in the same way. It is always there, always seeking to devour. We must learn to master it. We must learn to see temptation but to ignore it. We must learn to hear sin, but not listen to it. We must learn to be surrounded by sin, but not live by it. Sin is crouching at your door, will you master it?