Recovery Devotional 277 Mastering the Parasite

JMD Devotional 277 Genesis 4:6,7 Mastering the Parasite

And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why do you look sad and depressed and dejected? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.

God looked at Cain and saw a man made in His image who was in danger of being overcome by something foreign that was stalking his soul. He did not see Cain as ‘sin’ but saw sin as a separate agent of subterfuge. Sin, was in effect, regarded as a mind-altering parasite.

Science fiction is replete with stories of mind-altering parasites taking over human beings. Google ‘Toxoplasma’ sometime, (or follow the link at the end of this devotional). Half the human population is infected with this parasite, which infects the body and brain. It is found in all cats. Scientist have discovered its curious life cycle between cats and rats in the wild. Rats normally respond to the smell of a cat with a spontaneous terror that serves to protect them. But rats with this parasite loose their fear of cats, which makes them easy prey. This is how the parasite moves up the food chain, and it is insidious!

Romans 7:15-20 (AMP) For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns]. Now if I do [habitually] what is contrary to my desire, [that means that] I acknowledge and agree that the Law is good (morally excellent) and that I take sides with it.

However, it is no longer I who do the deed, but the sin [principle] which is at home in me and has possession of me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.] For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing. Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts], but the sin [principle] which dwells within me [fixed and operating in my soul].

It has become a cliché that is often uttered but not comprehended, “hate the sin and love the sinner”; but the principle draws upon this passage. Neil Anderson, in his book, “The Bondage Breaker”, goes into great detail about our relationship to sin. We are not sin; but ‘saints’ who sometimes sin’. People who cannot make the mental distinction between their sins and who they are in Christ end up defeated and powerless. Cain could not recover because he had no relationship with God. God alone can purge sin from the human soul and master the parasite.

Dear God,

I praise You for giving me a new identity and for setting me free (daily). Sin makes its host a prisoner; yet men foolishly cling to their cruel master, guarding and protecting it with secrecy. Help us to confess our sins as an antibiotic, as a first step in Your treatment plan. Manifest Your Holy Power in our lives to break its hold on us so we may serve You, and live abundantly.

Amen

Toxoplasma article retrieved on May 2, 2006 from http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=547

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

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