What are you Giving?
Pastor John Enter
Isn’t it amazing how children born to the same parents and raised in the same home can turn out so differently? It happened in the first family. “Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil” (Genesis 4:2). This shows different careers, not different character. Yet God accepted Abel’s offering and rejected Cain’s. Why? “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). The difference in the brothers’ characters, their trust in God, was revealed in their offerings. Abel gave God the choicest meat of his flock. Meanwhile, Cain … eventually … when he finally felt like it, gave God the leftovers.
“In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. … But on Cain and his offering [God] did not look with favor” (Genesis 4:3,5). Cain’s offering was not joyful or thankful. It was given by guilt and reluctant obligation. Abel was commended; Cain was criticized.
What you give, how you give, and how joyfully you give your offerings paints a clear picture. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Very few times does the Lord give a command and then couple it with a promised blessing. Proverbs 3:9,10 and Malachi 3:10 proclaim when we step into faithfulness with joyful, generous, and regular offerings to the Lord, amazing blessings follow. How? You can’t out-give God. His goodness is overpoweringly good. His abundance is immeasurably abundant. His love unrelenting. What are you giving God?
Devotional used by permission of Time of Grace®. For more information, visit www.timeofgrace.org