Many years ago, there lived two brothers who knew God differently. Their knowledge of God informed the ways in which they related to and with God.
The elder brother was a farmer, the younger a shepherd and God blessed the works of their hands. In their knowledge of God, they both knew they had to give offerings unto God out of the abundance that God had blessed them with.
Therefore, at a designated time of the month they took the offerings they thought their God deserved. ( Remember they knew God differently, so they treated Him differently)
Cain the farmer and elder brother brought just any part of his harvest, did not think too much about what He was giving God. After all , He is God and can have everything He wants he probably thought to Himself or he thought of the offering giving as more as a routine than an act of worship to God. And God rejected Cain then his offering
But his younger brother, Abel thought it through. He knew his God deserved the best of the best and hence he offered the best part of his first lamb that his sheep had given birth to. And God accepted Abel then his sacrifice.
You can read this story in Genesis chapter 4
The holy spirit told us certain things about the situation which I think we often skipp. For the longest time, I thought God did what he did only because of the offerings the brothers brought forward on that day.
But the Holy Spirit inspired the man that wrote the book of Genesis to tell us that God first rejected Cain before He rejected his sacrifice and that God accepted the sacrifice of Abel before He accepted his sacrifice.
Apparently;
a.Cain’s life did not please God
b.God was not happy with Cain’s life style
c.Cain had business he had to take care of between himself and God.In Genesis 4:6-7, we see that God calls Cain out, gives him a warning about the life he was currently living and advised him to take charge over sin that was about to rule him over.
Hence his rejection and the rejection of his sacrifice by God.
One would think Cain would be repentant but he wasn’t, he went ahead to deceive his younger brother and killed him.
This may have happened centuries ago but there is a lesson for us here:
It is great to give offerings to God through our worship,our lives of service to Him, our tithes. But God first accepts the Worshipper, the tither, the offerer before the offering.
I believe that is why more than often, we pray that our worship and offerings are acceptable in God’s sight. Therefore, let us present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto the Lord. Romans 12:1
Our bodies and lives need to honor God then our sacrifices will be accepted by God.
Hence, we should strive to
a. Lead and live holy lives for our God is holy
b. We should be obedient to whatever God tells us to do
c. We should confess and repent of our known sins.
May God help us all in Jesus name.
Amen
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