Sin in the Offering

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Bible Reading: Genesis 4 AMP

Genesis 4: 3-7 And in the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground.And Abel brought of the firstborn of his flock and of the fat portions. And the Lord had respect and regard for A bel and for his offering, But for [a]Cain and his offering He had no respect or regard. So Cain was exceedingly angry and indignant, and he looked sad and depressed. And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why do you look sad and depressed and dejected? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.

Thoughts

• The matter here may be whether Cain gave His best for his offering or not. The matter here may also be whether Cain gave the right offering God would take pleasure in or not. In a number of Scripture translations like that in the NIV, it does say that Abel offered "fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock." This means that Abel scouted for a number of the best among his flock and gave them as an offering to God.

• Rather than making it right, Cain resented God for it. He wanted to please God his way. He came bringing something, not hoping for God's pleasure but rather demanding for God to take pleasure in it. Similarly, man tends to love that way today. We choose to show love the way they want to. It takes a lifetime for a child of God to demonstrate Agape Love; to actually think of others and to think of the best ways they would really feel the love we are trying to show.

• Sin always works against us. Although the struggle is to do what we want and to do what we think will please us, in truth, sin will always bring us all that is unfavorable for us. That's why, we need to guard against deception and master the sinful urges in our lives.