Genesis 4:7
“… However, you must take dominion over it.”
Everyone faces trials and tempations; all mankind failed at some points, but we’re not left without hope. “Instead, we have one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet he never sinned” [Heb 4:15]; this one is our perfect example; he is to be honoured and lifted up [John 12:32].
(i) In him, by his grace, we have authority over the evil ones; “I watched Satan falling from heaven like lightning. Look! I have given you the authority…” [Luke 10:18-19].
(ii) And in him, by his grace, too, “… faith is the victory that overcomes the world…” [1John 5:4]; it is the victory that overcomes the lures of those people who advocate living a worldly life away from God.
(iii) Notwithstanding, there’s one still I need to take dominion over: myself. “Now those who belong to the Messiah have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires” [Gal 5:24]. My being convinced, of what God-designed human identity is, is vital.
“You will never understand who you are until you understand who God is.”
– Billy Graham
If I face a sin from the devil, the world, or my flesh, I believe this is how I must understand and carry out the instruction“…take dominion over it…”:
“… Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I…” – indeed, no one but I, my heart, my soul, my mind, my strength – “… keep pursuing the goal…” – the goal of knowing the Messiah, of remembering his Crucifixion (recalling his suffering and death), of receiving from his Spirit the power of his Resurrection, of obeying his commandments, of producing fruit; all by his grace – “… to win the prize of God’s heavenly call in the Messiah Jesus” [Phil 3].
