Written by: Dr Pearl Kupe
Article source: Supplied

Sin is crouching at your door
In the book of Genesis, God warns Cain that sin is crouching at his door. He says this to him in Genesis 4:7 “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.”

There are three key things that God articulates about sin in this scripture:

  • It crouches at the door. Sin does not just POUNCE on you in an overt manner. It is more cunning than that. It doesn’t usually manifest itself in an obvious manner, but rather has a tendency to crouch by the door. It waits for an opportune moment to enter into your life. Sin does not usually come in aggressively, but comes in a more practised and stealthy manner and has a way of surprising unsuspecting people. As believers, therefore, we must be alert & vigilant to the fact that the enemy prowls like a roaring lion seeking those whom he can devour through sin. Consequently, we must be aware of our environments to ensure against temptation and stop sin from finding its way in our lives.
  • Sin has a desire for us. We must always be aware of the fact that sin is desirous of us. lt is attracted to us and wants to “sift us as wheat”. It’s agenda is succinctly set out in the first part of John 10:10 which is to steal, kill and destroy us. Be keenly aware that sin has a great desire for us so that it can destroy our lives, our purposes in God, our futures, and our legacies.
  • Sin must be mastered. Even though sin has a desire for us, we must not reciprocate that desire. We must master it. Mastering sin is not an option for consideration. God told Cain to master it. It was not a recommendation or suggestion, but an instruction.It is either we master it, or it will master us. The only way sin can enter our lives is when we RECIPROCATE its desire for us.

How do we master sin?
We master sin by repelling and resisting the desire. We do so by remaining prayerful, studying the word of God regularly, walking in worship mode and staying in the right company and environments.

My London experience
I want to share a recent experience I had in London to practically illustrate how sin finds its way in our lives.

My daughter and I arrived in London on the morning of Thursday 15th May for a combined ministry & holiday trip. On Friday 16th May, we launched my two ladies perfumes Moya & Musa. My daughter Ufuoma, who lives in London, hosted the launch event at her JoshAndNicol fashion studio and served us with delicious healthy food. There was also some very rich unhealthy assortments which I managed to evade during the launch.

The challenge came when we took all the leftovers home. Included in the leftovers was “junk food” like double chocolate chip cookies, chips and other foods I don’t normally eat. Ideally I should have put the junk food away and gone to bed, but I didn’t . After staring at one packet of double chocolate chips cookies for several minutes, I eventually decided to taste one cookie. I had convinced myself that I was just going to take one bite, just to taste!! Well that one bite turned into two bites, then three , until the whole cookie was eaten. Then I had the second cookie and kept on eating them until the whole packet was demolished. After finishing the whole packet of double chocolate chip cookies, I then opened the Vanilla chocolate chip cookies and proceeded to demolish them as well. Before I knew it, I had finished two whole packets of chocolate chip cookies. I felt so bad after eating the cookies and even felt physically nauseous because I had not eaten junk food for almost a year. I also discovered that after eating those cookies, my body began to once again, crave sugar and junk food and for the next three weeks that I was in London, I was periodically eating chips, sweets and other types of junk food.

By the time I came back home, I was feeling heavy, constipated and weighted down. I had even gained 3.8 kgs (10 pounds) Thankfully after resuming my healthy eating, I lost that weight within 4 days time.

My experience in London illustrates how sin operates. It crouches at the door and looks appealing & tantalising and enters our lives in a very cunning manner. My downfall was in bringing those cookies home and having them in the same environment that I was in. If the cookies had been left in the studio or gotten rid of, I would have successfully resisted the temptation to indulge.

For us to master sin, we must:

  1. Be aware of it;
  2. Be aware that it is a masterful creature and has a strong desire for us;
  3. Be careful of the environments that we are in so we can resist temptation;
  4. Remain vigilant, prayerful, read the Word and stay in worship mode!

Remember that righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach. Be encouraged to seek after and walk in righteousness always.

#KeNako

With agape & blessings, Pearl Kupe

Pearl Kupe-Attorney & International consultant to world leaders & International organizations. She is the International President-Global Forum for Women Entrepreneurs- www.gfwe.co.za . Personal website on www.Pearlkupe.co.za. She is the TBN Africa DSTAV channel 343 Host on Ambassador of Change, Sundays at 13h00 and Wednesdays at 09h30 and 19h30(SAST)

You can follow Pearl on facebook page Pearl Kgomotso Kupe

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Date published: 13/06/2025
Feature image: Image for illustrative purposes only. Artwork adapted from www.freepik.com

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