May 2019 Articles

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Spiritual Corner: Lessons from Cain

Spiritual Corner: Lessons from Cain

I don’t know why, but I had a hard time figuring out what to write about this month. I just wasn’t feeling inspired, I guess you could say. However, I started to think back to a few years ago, whenever my husband was still my fiancé. I remembered a discussion we had and how it had served as a sort of epiphany for me. I had been reading in the book of Genesis, specifically about Cain and Abel. The Bible mentioned that Abel was a shepherd and Cain grew crops. The passage then reads, “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said unto Cain, ‘Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? 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’”(Genesis 4:3-7). I remember reading this passage and realizing that God was displeased with Cain’s offering because it wasn’t the best he had to offer. However, God was pleased with Abel’s offering because Abel brought Him the very best that he had. I recall reading this story and then talking to Randy about it. I told him what I had read and then said something similar to, “Can you believe Cain? I mean seriously…God asks him to bring him something he’d grown and he doesn’t even bring him the best he’s got?! You’d think the fact that he was bringing an offering to the one, true God would make him obviously bring his very best. I seriously just don’t understand Cain and his thinking…” I was so confused by Cain’s actions and honestly thought he just must not be that intelligent to not bring his Creator his very best. I mean, I felt like I’d want to show God my very best! When Randy replied to me, it’s like he didn’t even have to think about it. He simply said, “Dana, we do the same thing all the time. How many times a day do we not give God our best?” It was like a knife in the gut. How could I have missed something so simple? How could I have so strongly judged Cain for something I do all of the time?! You see, we all do it. We’re all are like Cain, no matter how badly we don’t want to admit it. How many times have we murmured a prayer at night, but then fallen asleep before we say Amen? Now I’ve heard some people defend this by saying, “Well, at least the last thing I was doing before I fell asleep was praying”. That may be true, but to me, it seems eerily similar to the disciples falling asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane when they were supposed to be praying. Did Jesus come back to them and say, “It’s okay, at least the last thing you were doing before you fell asleep was praying”? No! He rebuked the disciples for not being able to stay awake and talk to God for just a short period of time. On the flip side, I bet there’s a lot of us that you’d never catch dozing off before the final buzzer sounded at the end of the Super Bowl. Okay, how about this. How many times have you skipped your prayer time, Bible study time, church, helping a neighbor, etc. because your day is crazy busy and you have other things that just HAVE to get done? Yeah…I’m very guilty on this one. How many times do we put something else as a bigger priority over our time with God? Sometimes it’s as if we feel like, “Oh, God loves us and is merciful and He’ll understand. I’m still giving him some time, but I gotta get these things done, too”. God is loving and merciful, but He still wants our BEST. Just look back at His response to Cain. The very sad truth is that I so, so often put God and my time with Him on the back burner. I rush through it so I can check it off my list and then barrel onto the next task. I make other things a priority over time with God, foolishly thinking I’m doing what’s best. Y’all, why does it matter if we workout and eat healthy and have a healthy body if our soul is deteriorating? Why does it matter if we have enough money to pay our bills if our soul is bankrupt? Why does it matter if we make it to our kid’s ballgame to show them love and support if they don’t see us loving and supporting God? All of the things in this world, all of these things that we make priorities, while they may be important, they’re absolutely NOTHING compared to God and our relationship with Him. I am ashamed that I was so judgmental of Cain and sadly, I feel like we may judge others sometimes, too, thinking that they could be better or do better. Friends, I am the one who needs to be better and do better. I need to stop judging and realize that I am Cain. I need to strive to be like Abel. I need to offer God the very best I have in every situation, in every day, at every moment. It’s not easy, but it’s something we need to strive for. God is loving and God is merciful and He knows our hearts. He knows we’re going to fail at times, but we MUST keep pushing forward and must keep striving every second of every day to bring God the best we have to offer. Friends, God loved Cain…but He knew he could do better and he expected better. God loves us, but He knows what we’re capable of, He knows what our best is, and He knows where or who we’re giving our best to. We know how the rest of Cain’s story turns out (if you don’t, continue reading in Genesis 4). Let’s strive today to not judge Cain, but to learn from him. Then let’s work to be like Abel, and bring God our very best, because after all, everything we have to begin with comes from Him. --Dana Alexander