What really interests God?

Somebody said something in church yesterday that reminded me of Mr. Cain. You know him now, that man that offered bad fruits to God and was rejected, whereas, his brother offered good offering and was accepted. That is the story we all know, right?

Well, let me give you a shock; Cain did not offer bad offerings to God and neither did his brother (Abel) bring something better than he did. If you examine that passage of the Bible well, it was not stated the sort of fruit or better still, farm produce he brought or the state of the produce. All that was stated was that he brought of his farm produce.

Genesis 4:3  And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.

So, what then made his offering rejected and his brother's accepted? Someone said it was because Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock while Cain did not bring the first produce of his farm. Hmmm, convincing, right?

Well, I don't think so, because, I know that if Cain had brought the firstling of his farm produce, still, his offering would have been rejected. Why? That is because it was not about the offering, it was about Cain.
Now, let's go back to that passage

Genesis 4:1-7
1. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
2. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3. And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
4. 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:
5. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
6. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7. 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.

Please, carefully go with me;

Genesis 4:5
But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

The Bible did not say "unto Cain's offering and Cain" the Bible says "unto Cain and to his offering". Notice that Cain was mentioned before his offering. This means that it was Cain that God first rejected before he even rejected the gift, you get? It was Cain's life that was not pleasing unto God, hence the rejection of his offering.

Genesis 4:7
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.

God did not say " if thou fruits were good, would they not be accepted"
God said "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?" In fact, this is how NIV puts it:

NIV: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.”

That is to say, it was Cain that had a wrong life and not the wrong gift. His life was not right with God, he was not pleasing God with his life, hence his rejection. You would notice that when Abel's gift was accepted, it was Abel that was first acknowledged before the gift.

Let's examine another portion of the scripture.

Malachi 3:3-4  And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

You noticed that it was after the purification of the sons of Levi that the offering of sacrifice in righteousness was mentioned, before it then became pleasant unto the Lord to be accepted. This means that if the sons of Levi did not get sanctified, they would only offer offering which of course would not be in righteousness not to even talk of it pleasing God.

This shows that God is not after the offering or tithe you pay, nor your service as a chorister or usher in the vineyard. What he is really after is your life. This is because if your life is not first accepted, then your sacrifice can not be accepted.

Romans 12:1 has said it all:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

The first reasonable service that you offer is "Your body" (your life, your being, everything about you). It is the first offering that determines whether other offerings brought would be accepted.

It is only a correct life that can offer a pleasant sacrifice to the Lord. Is your life correct?

Oh, back to what that person said in church: He was actually asked to pray on the offering and He prayed that God accepts us and our offering. And that took me to the story in Genesis.

Shalom