Blood

Splats of blood on an unmarked page...ugly. Murder...a horrible word. Blood spilled on the ground...the evidence of life that once was. Blood crying out from the ground...evil that will not go away... that will not hide.

Are we so close to this being a reality in our lives...each of us, as James suggests in this chapter?

I like the illusion that I'm a good person; that I'm not capable of...murder. But then there have been those moments when the illusion fades as I dance too close to the very worst of humanity's rebellion. Jesus wanted to destroy our illusions. He quoted the law on murder and its consequences. And then He said

"If you are angry with someone, you are subject to (the same) judgement" Matthew 5;21,22 (NLT)

And who of us has not been guilty of that? I think James is right. Cain and Abel's story is our own story:

Deep down, coursing through my soul, are the same currents of jealousy and
resentment and bitterness and rebellion that surfaced in the life of Cain. The
currents flow all throughout our human family, deadly and deep - currents as old
as Eden and as thick as blood.