When an Evil Work Goes Uncorrected: Cain and the Struggle Against Sin

Written by Bill Valine

November 2025

“Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” Ecclesiastes 8:11

Can you steal from yourself? At first glance, the answer seems obvious. Stealing, by definition, is taking something that does not belong to you without permission. You can certainly give away something you own, but you cannot steal from yourself; there is no transfer of ownership. Yet, in another sense, a person can indeed steal from himself—by stealing from his future.

Revisiting Ecclesiastes 8:11

When reading Ecclesiastes 8:11—“Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil”—I long believed it referred strictly to conscious wrongdoing. I imagined a person who knows it is wrong to steal, but steals anyway, emboldened by the fact that he is not caught and suffers no immediate consequences.

However, as a teacher who has watched middle and high school students for years, I have come to understand that this verse applies to far more than deliberate criminal acts.

Why Students Fail

Student abilities fall along a bell curve; a small number will always struggle regardless of effort. But most students who fail do not need to fail. They are fully capable. Ask them about something that interests them, and their competence becomes obvious. So why do they falter academically?

It is not because students consciously decide, “I will fail on purpose.” Their failure is the result of countless small decisions accumulated over time.

A student may think, “I don’t want to study,” or, “I don’t need to do this assignment,” and then choose not to. At first, this decision seems harmless; there are few immediate consequences. But if repeated day after day, month after month, that simple choice becomes habit. Eventually, the student wakes up to find himself so far behind that catching up feels impossible. Shame replaces confidence. Resignation takes root.

In this way, the student has stolen from his future self—stolen the opportunity to learn, to grow, and to succeed. The opposite is also true: a student who makes many small decisions to study and complete tasks builds habits that make her a successful learner.

Cain: A Case Study in Cumulative Choices

Cain is a powerful example of a person undone by his own accumulated decisions. In Genesis 4, when his offering was rejected, Cain responded with anger. God warned him:

“Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door.
And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
— Genesis 4:6–7

Here again is the pattern described in The Seeds of Sin. God did not punish Cain immediately. Instead, God pointed out the danger and patiently gave Cain space to choose rightly. God’s warning echoes Paul’s words:

• “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” — Romans 6:12

• “For sin shall not have dominion over you…” — Romans 6:14

In both passages, sin is personified. In both, sin attempts to use our passions—anger, envy, lust—against us. And in both, we are shown to be in an ongoing struggle for dominance.

But Cain allowed sin to dominate him. He nurtured anger until it became part of him. When he killed Abel, he did more than murder his brother—he robbed himself of his own future:

“Now you are cursed from the earth… When you till the ground,
it shall no longer yield its strength to you.
A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”
— Genesis 4:11–12

We All Steal From Ourselves

It is not only Cain—or only young students—who steal from their future selves. We all do it. We develop harmful habits by repeating harmful choices. At first the consequences seem nonexistent, but over time those choices reinforce one another, shaping habits that rob us of the future God desires for us.

Both the Hebrew word for sin (ḥaṭṭā’, from ḥāṭā’) and the Greek (hamartia, from hamartanō) carry the meaning “to miss the mark.” Sin, then, is pictured as an archer missing his target. Just as a skilled archer trains through discipline and repetition, we must cultivate spiritual habits that help us master our passions. This requires humility and constant self-examination.

Questions Worth Asking

What, then, should we be asking ourselves?

• Are we, like Cain, allowing anger, envy, or resentment to go unrestrained?

• Are we modeling godliness to our children?
  “But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit?
  And why one? He seeks godly offspring.” — Malachi 2:15a
  Or are we teaching rebellion through constant bickering?
  “If you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another.” — Galatians 5:15

• Are our lives consistent with our words?
  “These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
  and honor Me with their lips,
  but their heart is far from Me.” — Matthew 15:8

• Are we neglecting our responsibilities?
  King Hezekiah “trusted in the Lord… so that after him was none like him” (2 Kings 18:2–7). Yet he failed as a father; his son Manasseh became one of Judah’s worst kings (2 Kings 21:1–18).
  Are we taking seriously the charge:
  “Train up a child in the way he should go…” — Proverbs 22:6

• Are we too permissive?
  David never corrected his son Adonijah “at any time” (1 Kings 1:6), and reaped rebellion in his own household.

• Do we show favoritism?
  Isaac favored Esau (Genesis 25:28), and Jacob favored Joseph (Genesis 37:3), creating division and resentment in their families.

The Hard Work of Examination

Self-examination is difficult. Jesus gave a vivid picture of the human heart left unchecked:

“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.
All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”
— Mark 7:21–23

He also warned that “the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). The flesh is not strong in righteousness; it is weak in resistance. Like water flowing downhill, it chooses the path of least effort.

Examining Ourselves Without Fear

We may recoil from examining our habits, fearing what we will find. Yet we can be honest before Christ without fear of rejection:

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
— Hebrews 13:5

Paul echoes this hope:

“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
— Romans 7:24–25

If we humble ourselves and allow Jesus to shape us, He promises grace:

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
— 1 Peter 5:5

He promises a secure future:

“For thus says the High and Lofty One…
I dwell… with him who has a contrite and humble spirit.”
— Isaiah 57:15

Rather than stealing from our future selves, we will find our future anchored securely in Him.