How It Works!
The Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain…he had not. Genesis 4:4-5
Cain cultivated the ground, planted the seed, gathered the harvest, and offered God the fruits of his labors. He thought God would be impressed, and that He would feel obligated to bless him. But that’s not how it works! Abel, on the other hand, told God, ‘I did nothing. You created the lamb I’m offering. I’m just giving You back what’s Yours, and asking You to bless it.’ And God did! You can tell a lot about somebody by how they approach God. Some of us act like God owes us something. Others among us are so impressed with our spiritual status and accomplishments that we feel the need to approach Him with lofty phraseology and high-sounding ‘thees’ and ‘thous’. But God isn’t impressed, so let’s get real! ‘The Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.’ That’s because unlike his brother, Abel wasn’t seeking credit for anything. He wanted God to have all the glory. That’s the kind of offering that moves God’s heart and invites His richest blessing upon our lives. So what are you offering God today? Your achievements? Your denominational credentials? Your self-reliance? Your shallow emotion? If you are, don’t bother! The only thing He asks is that you humbly open your heart and let Him recreate you in the likeness of Jesus. When you do that, something wonderful happens. By downplaying your own self-interests and giving God an acceptable offering, not only will He receive and respect it, He will bless you and equip you to bless others too. That’s how it works!
Prayer
Heavenly Father, anything I have is Yours and because of You. Please shape and mold me into your likeness. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
I have loved reading these inspiring, uplifting messages daily. Thank you. I agree with everything in today’s message about humility and recognizing all our blessings are from God. We are given talents from Him and material things from Him, our organic efforts work because He allows it. But I must say that I do not agree with the comment about thee and thou being used in an effort to be lofty and proud. I was raised to pray to the most powerful being in the universe with utmost respect and humility. To show that humility and respect I was taught to say thee and thou even though I was talking very personally to my Heavenly Father. Similarly in Latin languages where one may be permitted to call someone elderly by their first name, but in respect still use a formal version of “you.” Furthermore, I do think some may be more thoughtful than others in prayer and some may be poorly motivated to pray, but judgement of others prayers is not what Christ would want us to be doing. He asks all of us to be merciful with others and ourselves as he is merciful to us. Perhaps we ought to focus first on the condition of our hearts and how that reflects in our prayers rather than what verbiage others use.