1 John 3:11-18

1 John 3:11-18

The supreme way to resemble our heavenly Father is by the character or the virtue of love. We might expect John to give a teaching about the nature or expression of love, but instead he gives us a reference to Cain. Why the reference to Cain? Because repeated action or behavior becomes the pattern that dominates our lives, whether that action is virtuous or a vice. Habits of evil are called “a vice” because, like a bench vise, once we are in them, we cannot escape. Cain’s problem was not the murder of his brother; that was the symptom and was in itself no worse than murders done by Moses or David. The murder, prompted by the exposure of his bad worship, reflects something deeper. John writes, “Because his works were evil.” The verb “were” indicates a continuing, ongoing pattern. The character of Cain's life was not a basically good guy who lost his temper in a fit of rage. Cain’s life was marked by a pattern of evil works. His worship was not a sincere but misguided effort to please God. It was rather, in some way, evil, self-seeking, and rebellious. In Abel, Cain saw a living, walking, and fruit-bearing rebuke to everything wrong in his own life.

This helps us answer the question, “Why the vicious hate for Godly Christian?” We see an irrational, crazed hate for simple people of faith because the character of Christian infuriates those who are like Cain. One example will do. To peaceably stand at an abortion clinic and pray will prompt evil people to respond with unrepeatable words and, in some cases, assault. Because the mere presence of good is a cutting rebuke to evil, the harsher the reaction, the more entrenched the evil.

The opposite of Cain is a life of love, not as a sentimental feeling or emotional rush but rather as actions of practical self-giving. That was expressed in Christ in his death on the cross. Most of us will never face the challenge of being a martyr. However, we face the challenge of rejecting selfishness and instead giving to the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is disingenuous for a person to imagine great acts of self-sacrifice if they have never developed the pattern of small acts of loving-kindness. Love must never be big talk; it is more becoming for it to begin with many small acts of love repeated over and over. 

“Lord, may the pattern of my life be acts of love. AMEN”