March 2010

Stop Raising Cain

I heard the phrase “stop raising Cain” so often as a child that it is forever etched in my brain. Every time I heard it, I knew I was being warned to stop causing trouble.

The 2009 college football season was a troublesome one for coaches as a whole. Oh, there were the usual firings of a number of head coaches for losing records, but there was another set of firings that seemed directed at those who were allegedly “raising Cain.”

The phrase “raising Cain” alludes to the earth’s first son: Adam and Eve’s boy Cain. According to Genesis 4:1, he was desired by his parents and considered a special blessing from God. In verse two we read about the birth of the first sibling in the Bible, Cain’s brother Abel, which probably created the first opportunity for competition and comparison.

In verse five, after Abel, a keeper of sheep, brought a more pleasing offering to God than Cain, we read about the world’s first anger. Cain was angry that God loved Abel’s offering more than his. The Scripture says that Cain’s face fell. Through his anger, he lost perspective and countenance.

Interestingly, in verse six, the Lord approaches Cain to talk to him. God was deeply interested in Cain and initiated valuable intimacy with him. In layman’s terms, God says to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why did you lose your perspective? If you do well (meaning Cain will get more chances), I will accept you.” God goes on to say to Cain that if he doesn’t “do well” (or, if Cain blows God off), then sin will crouch at the door of anger and rear its ugly head. Finally, the Lord charges Cain to rule his anger instead of allowing it to master him.

“As coaches, we have been given too much responsibility over precious hearts, souls and lives to allow our anger to rule us and ‘kill’ the hopes, dreams and perspectives of youngsters...”

God was trying to intimately and lovingly speak some sense into Cain. He was letting Cain know that he could come back and get it right. But Cain ignored God. Even though he had the power to rise above his anger, he chose not to. He unleashed his anger and murdered his brother. And truly, this is an example of what can happen to any of us when we choose not to hand our anger over to God.

When I heard about the well-known college football coaches being fired over issues of anger, foolishness, mistreatment of players, etc., I sensed in my spirit that God was warning all of us coaches in every sport on every level to stop raising Cain! As coaches, we have been given too much responsibility over precious hearts, souls and lives to allow our anger to rule us and “kill” the hopes, dreams and perspectives of youngsters who are looking to us to breathe life into them.

Sadly, some of the angriest people I have ever met are coaches. Over the years, I’ve met coaches of many sports throughout the world, and, quite frankly, some of the angriest moments that I’ve witnessed have come from this group—myself included.

Throughout my sports history, some 40-plus years, I have heard and seen it all: slamming objects, name-calling, profanity, punching players, punching media, punching fellow coaches, punching fans, furious arguments, alcohol abuse, pornography, adultery, lies, excuses, reckless driving, drug use, deep silence, secrets, depression and even suicide.

Listen, my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, this need not be! This must not be! Coaches who don’t know Christ are left to their own human means, and a number of them are failing miserably. But admittedly this may be true of us Christian coaches as well.

Let’s face it, we too have a flesh nature that gravitates toward sin. But brothers and sisters, there is something else that we do have. It’s the same thing that Cain had but that he turned down. And that is God’s intimate, loving voice, which says to us when we struggle with an angry moment, “Don’t let it rule you.” Right then, God pleads with us and says that we can repossess that anger and turn it into a positive, powerful, energetic, wise response of love toward our athletes, families, fans, media, administrators and fellow coaches. Jesus offers us His power, which allows us to rule over our anger and win the situation no matter what the circumstance. And if you’ve already blown it, His forgiveness is yours if you want it—if you want Him.

I truly believe that God is warning us through what we witnessed publicly with college football coaches in 2009. He ain’t playin‘!

God knows the enormous pressures on coaches regarding wins and losses, firings, salaries, expectations, media attention and Internet attacks. But this still is not a legitimate excuse for uncontrolled anger.

If there’s even one area of your life from this list of angry responses that’s mastering you, stop raising Cain! Give it over to Jesus—now. He wants that mess, and He wants you! Let Him get rid of the filth, lavish His great love on you and launch you to new and liberating heights.

--For more stories about faith and sport, visit www.sharingthevictory.com, the official magazine of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. To subscribe to STV, click here.