I was on the long road north. I love driving, but the stretch between Laingsburg and Beaufort West is always gruelling and as usual, my passengers were fast asleep. 

While listening to Jakaranda FM via their app, I encountered their podcast program on major crimes in South Africa. Although the content was disturbing, it made the journey pass more quickly. 

What probably disturbed me the most was the story of the Griekwastad murders. The young boy, then only 15, most likely wanted to hide the rape of his sister by shooting not only her but both his parents in cold blood as well. 

I was sickened and still can’t believe that someone is capable of such a thing. Unfortunately, such horrible stories happen regularly when people simply wipe out their families. 

We also read about it in the Bible. 12We must not be like Cain, who joined the Evil One and then killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil, while the acts of his brother were righteous.  

Driven by jealousy and anger, Cain murdered his brother because God accepted his brother’s sacrifice but rejected his own. 

Cain’s heart was not aligned with God’s will. And God’s primary concern is the state of our hearts since they dictate our actions. In Genesis 4:7, God commanded Cain to master sin and change his attitude. Cain ignored this, with devastating results. 

This happens when we allow anger and jealousy to harden our hearts. 

Those are extreme cases, but when we leave God out of our lives and don’t let Him guide us, we see the same kinds of results. We end up doing things that destroy people’s lives. 

We may not intend to take people’s lives, not physically, but sometimes our actions can hurt people so much that they can’t function normally. 

This happens when a person’s heart is not guided by God. 

It’s essential to protect ourselves from our own tendencies. Though it may sound harsh, when we feel threatened or deprived, we can make flawed choices motivated by our ego. 

When we do things that aren’t right, we want to make it right by doing wrong things. A minus plus a minus remains a minus. No! It becomes a bigger minus. A bigger negative. 

We make mistakes. When someone treats us badly, it’s normal to try and make it right. But we must make sure that we do what is right in God’s eyes, take responsibility for what we do wrong, or others do wrong, and live in peace with God and the people around us. 

Scripture
1 John 3:11-18

Reflection
What mistakes are you still making?
Are you protecting yourself?
Are your actions protecting others? 

Prayer
Father, grant me the strength to maintain self-control, so that I may never hurt others. Amen.