Our offering

In my life I struggle to have balance. I am sure it is no different than the lives of most. There have been many times I have given much less than what was acceptable. Yet it probably appeared like I gave a decent effort, and maybe even an effort over and above the call. The truth is, God knows when my offering has been woefully lacking. You see, He is intimately aware of the store house that is my heart, which holds the reservoir of time, physical energy, and spiritual maturity, at my disposal. It is important to be actively involved in the lives of my family, trying to make sure we have quality time together, (and I do not buy into the quality-over-quantity philosophy) all while actively serving others. Much prayer goes into what must get laid to the side in order to give an acceptable offering to the Lord. And do we merely want to give an offering that is just "acceptable." What our lives produce is a sacrifice to the Lord. Of all we produce over the breadth of our entire life, the only parts that will survive eternity are what we do as a sacrifice for the Lord and the advancement of His kingdom. The rest will be burned. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." 2 Corinthians 5:10. When our offering is short sighted the consequences are often dire.

 

We must not deceive ourselves in thinking things we do for our amusement is for God's glory. Our hearts must be true to things of the Lord. There have been times in my life when I have had the heart of Cain. He brought what he expected to be an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord. His attitude was, 'surely this will be good enough.' How often do we do that? We put forth a lack luster effort and think, that should be good enough. "And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell." Genesis 4:3-5. We have heard our children say, "I did my best," often with an incredulous tone, insulted that we have not received their offering of effort with accolades. Those words are easy to say but God sees straight into our hearts and He is neither impressed nor pleased with our offerings trying to convince Him that we 'did our best.'  

 

It does not say in scripture why God rejected Cain's offering. We do however get a glimpse into Cain's heart when it was rejected. Cain was unwilling to receive correction, act with humility, or repent and change his heart. What we offer to Christ in our day to day lives is evidence of our heart. It is not for others around us to determine because we do not serve for the approval of others. We are to work at the calling God has placed on our lives with fervor and determination. When our hearts are determined and we empty our lives of our own desires then we make an acceptable offering to the Lord. "Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart;" Psalm 15:2. It is foolish to think we can deceive God into accepting anything from us that is less than our very best. We often delude ourselves, but never God. And even though the attempt seems so silly, we still try.

Another important lesson we must learn from Cain is how to respond when we are rebuked. It takes spiritual maturity to receive correction with humility and acceptance. Dear friend, when someone loves us enough to share with us painful truths in our lives that impede our walk with Christ and prevent us from drawing closer to Him, we must receive it with humility and a grateful heart, especially when the exhortation is supported with scripture. There are few things more important in drawing the hearts of the children of God into closer fellowship with each other and with Christ than the loving restoration of a brother or sister to righteousness. "He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward, Than he who flatters with the tongue." Proverbs 28:23. We must not be a family afraid to give and receive exhortation.  It leads to disfunction and discord. We must give it with gentleness and love, and receive it with humility and accept that none of us are immune to being deceived by the enemy. We must be grateful to God that He offers restoration as He did to Cain. Cain was so angry and jealous of Able he refused to see his own fault. You know how the story ends. He vengefully murdered his little brother and was cursed for the rest of his life. When we draw closer to Christ and mature spiritually it strengthens the entire body.