By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts.
--Hebrews 11:4
I have often wondered about Cain and Abel. It’s such an interesting story, with an unexpected twist. God accepted and blessed the offering of Abel, but refused to accept Cain’s offering.
Now, the two offerings were probably about equal in amount, perhaps even more so on the side of Cain. So why did the Lord reject Cain’s offering? The answer has to do with Cain’s attitude. Cain made his offering with an attitude of unfaith and duty. Abel came with an attitude of faith and reverence,
But before we come down too hard on Cain, we need to be careful about how we might be bringing unacceptable sacrifices to God today. For instance, every time we sing a praise song when God Himself is the furthest thing from our mind, we bring false worship and a wrong attitude. Leftover worship and sacrifice is not what God desires. He desires authentic worship given with all that we have.
But I’m afraid many of us give God the leftovers far too often, whether it is our money, our prayers, or some other form of our worship,. If we’re too tired to pray at night, we’ll just go to bed and pray later. If we just have to have that new car…even though we really don’t need it…we’ll just give less and deal with the issue of our tithe later.
But it’s in the seemingly small decisions like these that our attitude toward God is revealed.
What is your attitude toward giving of yourself and what you have to the Lord? Does He have it all…or just the leftovers?
God desires your very best…not just the leftovers!
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
Luke 13:1–3
D. L. Moody told the story of a tragedy that occurred while he was in England on one of his preaching trips. In a small fishing town named Eyemouth after a week of bad weather, the fishing boats determined to set out when the sky finally cleared to make up for lost time. Moody said, “Before they started, the harbor-master hoisted the storm signal, and warned them of the coming tempest. He begged of them not to go; but they disregarded his warning, and away they went. Very few of those fishermen returned. In the church of which my friend was pastor, I believe there were three male members left. Those men were ushered into eternity because they did not give heed to the warning.”
The message of Jesus was rejected by many in His day because they did not believe they needed to heed a warning of sin and the absolute requirement of turning to Him. The Pharisees and others thought they were just fine as they were, and that Jesus was only addressing the “sinners.” They failed to recognize, or were unwilling to admit, that they needed the message just as much as anyone else.
Often we find it comforting to apply commands of Scripture or the messages we hear preached to the lives of others, rather than considering our own condition. This is a deadly error, because if we fail to see our own sin and repent of it, we will suffer the consequences. Every time we hear a warning, we should prayerfully consider if it applies to us and how we should respond.
Today’s Growth Principle:
The warnings and instructions of Scripture are just not for others—they are for us.
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