Genesis 4:7 Acceptance and Sin

Genesis 4:7 "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.  And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him."  This is how it reads to me, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.  And unto sin shall be thy desire, and sin shalt rule over him." 

There are two parts in this scripture that I think deserve to be looked into more deeply.  Acceptance.  Who doesn't want to be accepted?  Everyone wants people to accept them the way they are.  Here it says that if we do well, we will be accepted.  What kind of acceptance?  God's acceptance?  He will always love us, no matter what for we are the children of God, but that doesn't mean that He wants us to be better- our best selves.  I think it means that God will help us be accepted by those around us when we do right- that He will make weak things become strong.  Ether 12:27 says, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.  I give unto men weakness.  I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."  We all have weaknesses, but when we are humble and turn to the Lord He makes them become strong.  Example from my life- I am generally VERY shy but I wanted to serve a mission.  I struggled, and needed the Lord's help and started praying to be able to talk to people and share the things I wanted to in my heart.  By the end of my mission I realized how much I had changed when talking with one family.  I told them I was always the shy one growing up.  They were astonished and were like, "The SHY one?  We can't get you to shut up!" (said affectionately of course).  I went home that evening and realized that I WASN'T the shy one anymore.  The Lord had helped me speak the things I wanted to.  The people accepted me, and what I had to say, because I did what was right- I humbled myself and turned to God for help.

Second part of this scripture: "...sin lieth at the door.  And unto sin shall be thy desire, and sin shalt rule over him."  When we have our moments of weakness, sin is just around the corner.  And when we give in to temptation, our desire turns to that sin and that sin shall have control over us.  One of the greatest lessons I have learned is that of obedience to God's commandments.  God gave us commandments because they are guidelines to eternal happiness, joy and ways to be FREE.  When we give in to sin we start to see it as more and more enticing and therefore become a slave to sin.  We lose our self control to the cravings that sin instills.  Only through Christ can we atone and rise above sin and its enslaving bonds.