“The LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.’” Genesis 4:6-7

“When God created humankind, he made them in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them ‘Humankind’ when they were created.” Genesis 5:1b-2

“The LORD saw the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, ‘I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created – people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the sight of the LORD. … Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.” Genesis 6:5-8, 9b-c.

Fast forward to Luke 1:5-6, “In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord.

Righteous and blameless, living holy lives we are able to walk with God, by God’s grace and mercy. Thanks be to God for the remnant in each generation whom escapes the sin lurking at the door, focuses on God and sets the condition to usher in the Spirit of God. Today, desire to find and live out your original image and likeness, the image and likeness of God, only answer the door when Jesus knocks, not the when the evil desires of the heart surface.