This morning, as I was driving and asking Holy Spirit what it was that He wanted me to write about today, I heard Him whisper, “Cain and Abel.” I was a bit surprised, but as I thought about it, it occurred to me that the Cain and Abel factor is one that is current even in today’s world, even within the body of Christ. Think about it… Let’s take a look at the story of Cain and Abel found in Genesis 4:1-9:
“Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
As I revisited this story, I had read it several times before, I wondered why Holy Spirit had brought it front in center into my mind, and then it hit me – this Cain and Abel aspect happens time and time again even between believers.
Why did God look with favor on Abel’s portion and not with Cain’s? My guess by the description (look again at Genesis 4:2-5):
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.
Abel gave the fat portions from some of his FIRST-BORN flock. Cain brought SOME of the fruits of the soil. It seems to me, that this was more of a “heart thing” than anything else. God looks at the heart. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says:
“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Giving an offering to the Lord is really a “heart thing.” So I ask you, have you checked your heart? Whatever you do unto the Lord, how are you doing it? Are you doing it as an act of obedience only? And I mean this not only financially, but also in serving Him with the gifts He has endowed you with to use for His glory OR even in the way you are living life? If you have given your life to God, your life is no longer your own, the Bible says in Galatians 2:20:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
How are you living? Are you reluctantly going through the “religious language” of being a Christian? Oh yeah, did you know there is “Christian-Speak” that is when you know all the “Christian” things to say, but your heart really isn’t in it. When you have either traditionally been raised to “be” a Christian, but your actions and your heart don’t line up with the Word of God. You are just “going through the motions.” GOD LOOKS AT THE HEART. Matthew 7:15-20 says:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.”
This is not a matter of works, as works does NOT save you. If you are a Born-Again believer, you are saved by grace. It is a matter of how you conduct yourself. God can see if you are cheerfully giving your talents, your finances, your life to Him, if you are only doing it as a matter of obedience. The end results won’t be the same. The joy in allowing Holy Spirit free reign over your life (that is no longer yours, for you gave it to Him) can be seen by the way you live, by the way you treat others, by the way you love God. Matthew 5:13 says:
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
How you love God shows. How you respond to the hills and valleys of life shows. How you treat other people shows. It ALL reveals the truth of you. Your strengths and your short-comings. And if you are someone who strongly professes to BE a Christian or “follower of Christ” you can BET that your actions are front in center. Which is why Jesus said in Matthew 10:16:
“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.”
You are supposed to be Christ’s Ambassador – that is something that should be taken very seriously, because each of us will give an account to Him as to how we lived our lives. In other words, the truth is in the pudding. Your words, your actions, your life all reveal (like that lamp mentioned above), what you are really “offering” to God. And while it is easy to “Christian-Speak” and fool people, God (who looks at the heart), is not fooled. If you can identify with what I am writing, perhaps Holy Spirit is trying to tell you the SAME thing that was told to Cain in Genesis Chapter 4:6-7:
“Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
God IS a loving Father, and He disciplines IN LOVE. Because HE has created us with free-will we have a choice as to whether or not we are going to listen and grow, or allow pride and stubbornness walk in the opposite direction. What is God saying to you? Does He wants YOU to change, which ultimately will allow you to have a closer walk with Him? And are you bucking at it or listening? Spiritual growing pains are not always easy, but God disciplines those He loves, which brings us into a deeper understanding of ourselves and when we listen, brings us into a closer relationship with Him. Romans 12:2 says:
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Those that belong to Him MUST allow Holy Spirit, (who Jesus gave us to be our Teacher); to teach us, to train us, to grow us and while it isn’t always easy, the rewards outweigh the spiritual growing pains as God molds you into the BEST He has in mind for you to be. He didn’t say it would be easy, but He DID say it would be worth it! Otherwise, you become spiritually stunted and miss out on ALL God intended you to be and to do.
I’m pretty sure that Abel was not trying to “one up” his brother. His love for God may have been the very center of his life and Abel was giving from his heart. Cain was jealous of his brother, and instead of doing a “heart check” he let the spirit of jealousy wrap around his heart, and did the opposite of what God had told him to do. He allowed sin to rule over him, instead of ruling over it, and hence, he was the first person to commit the first act of murder in the Bible.
Cain cajoled his brother into coming out into the field with him, more than likely under false pretenses, Abel had no idea what was going to occur. Abel was betrayed by his brother. And his brother, Cain was not even remorseful of what he did when God questioned him in Genesis 4:9:
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
In fact, the proof of the state of Cain’s heart REALLY was is apparent (not only in his sarcastic response to God), but also in the scripture below, which shows the only thing Cain was remorseful was with God taking his gift of cultivating the land away – not in the killing of his brother. See Genesis 4:10-14.
“The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
“Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
Maybe Holy Spirit is asking you – what offering are YOU giving to the Lord and HOW are you giving it? I’m not just talking about financially, but also in the way you show love to others. Are you jealous of others walk with Christ in how they love God? Are your actions in how you treat others grudgingly, or mean-spirited than in the way God commands us to love each other? Remember, God looks at the heart, so the truth is NOT hidden from Him. What is Holy Spirit saying to you as you read these words that Holy Spirit has told me to write? 1 John 2:9-11 says:
“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.”
And Proverbs 10:18 says:
“Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads slander is a fool.”
and in 1 John 4:19-20:
“We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”
and also, in 1 John 3:14-15:
“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.”
Instead, as indicated in Psalm 45:7 we should:
“You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”
The stories that God has allowed to be written in the Bible (God’s Word) are to help us to know the difference in right and wrong. It is to teach us what we need to do, how we need to act in order to draw closer to God and mature in our walk with Him. This is where Cain messed up. If he had obeyed God’s instruction, God would have been “well pleased” with him. We need to learn from Cain’s mistake because there are (as they were in Cain’s circumstances) consequences for disobedience. Cain allowed jealousy and pride (in other words sin) to rule and ruin his life. Genesis 4:16 indicates that he was driven out from the Lord’s presence. I can imagine no greater punishment.
The choice is always ours to make, heart-checks with God is something we should do on a DAILY basis. We are not supposed to allow sin to rule over us, but through the shed blood of Jesus, which was given to us at a great price teaches us that we should bring everything under submission to Him. Let us learn from God’s word and grow from it. Please pray with me:
“Father God, thank You for the examples You give us in Your Word. These are not “fairy tales” but true-life stories of those who came before us. You have given us them for a reason – to learn, to grow and to draw closer to You. Thank You for Your precious Word which is to be our instruction manual. Holy Spirit, if there be ANY evil in us, we pray that You would remove it. That You would turn our hearts towards You. That You would give us eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to understand ALL that You have been sent to teach us and more importantly that You would take away our hearts of stone and replace them with hearts of flesh that are pliable and moldable by You. Forgive us for any wayward thinking that would separate us from God who desires to have an intimate relationship with us. Thank You for helping us to live in a way where we are not envious or jealous of others, but instead focused on seeking God for ourselves, knowing fully well that Romans 2:11-16 tells us:
“God is no respecter of persons.”
Father God, we know as indicated in that word, You have no favorites; You loves us all the same. And so, help us to keep our eyes focused on You and concentrate on our own walks before You, not be overly concerned and jealous with where others are in their walk with the Lord, but with our own. Help us not to sin as Cain sinned, but to listen to Your voice Holy Spirit, that You would be well-pleased with us. Thank You for hearing this prayer, in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”
I hope that we (and I include myself too) learn from the writing of this, that we must remember that we are ALWAYS given a choice – the difference in acting as Cain did -disobediently; or the act of following and listening to what Holy Spirit is telling us; which ALWAYS lines up with the Word of God. May all of our actions glorify God, and may we walk in obedience and love, making sure that how we live and move and have our being always lines up with the Word of God so we can walk in the abundance of ALL God has for us, in the center of His love, so others will know who we are by the love that we bear – the love of God in Christ Jesus.
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