“But the LORD said to him [Cain], ‘Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.’ Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.” (Genesis 4:15)

What do you have reminders for?  Medications?  Meetings?  Special dates?  We humans need reminders, don’t we?  We need reminders because it’s so easy to forget important things.

As we heard on Sunday, God showed out-of-the ordinary love to Cain again and again and again.  But unfortunately, again and again and again in unbelief Cain turned away from God’s gracious dealings with him.  Even at the end when Cain was worried about his personal safety after killing his brother, God reached out to him again in grace.

How so?  God put a mark on him or gave him some sign [the Hebrew word can mean either] to assure him that God would keep His promise to protect Cain.  What grace!  Not only was Cain’s time of grace to come to repentance spared but again and again He’d have a reminder of God’s graciousness in sparing him and not treating him as his sins deserve.

What reminders of God’s love has He given to you?  How about this one: “Receive the sign of the cross on the head and on the heart to mark you as a redeemed child of Christ.”  In your baptism God put His name on you, connected you with Christ, made you His very own!

Live this week as someone who’s been “marked” by the grace of God!

Treasuring the reminders of God’s grace, just like you,

pastor