The Kind of Offering God Accepts?
The Origin of Offering
The first offering to God was given by Cain, the first son of Adam. Cain brought to God some farm produce of the work of his hands. God did not ask him for an offering; he was the one who took it to God. After Cain was Abel, his brother, who offered the firstborn of his flock and of the fat portions thereof (Genesis 4:4).
At the end of the sacrifice, Cain realized that God had accepted Abel’s offering and refused his. This got him really angry; he became mad at God and severely envious of his brother. He thought within himself: “What is wrong with my offering? What?”
Why God Rejected Cain’s Offering
God approached Cain and said: “Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? If you do well, won’t you be accepted?” (Genesis 4:6-7, MSG). A careful examination of this response will reveal that it was not Cain’s offering that was the problem but he himself. God did not say “won’t your offering be accepted?” but “won’t you be accepted?”. This shows that when one offers anything to God, whether it is big or small, good or bad is not so much a problem as the person giving the offering. For every offering that comes before Him, God looks beyond the offering to see who is behind the offering and He asks: “Is he/she accepted?”
It Begins With Who You Are Inside
Fellow Christian, let me offer you a better point-of-view to this matter. We know that there are two invincible fathers of life who are also the two invincible fathers of the spirit. Each owns one of two separate, invincible realms that exist — the realm of light and the realm of darkness. The realm of light is owned and governed by God, while that of darkness is under the control of the devil. Every soul on earth belongs to either of these two realms.
Every life has a throne inside of it and sitting upon that throne is either God or the devil. Everyone who belongs to the realm of light lives in righteousness. God, as the Father of Light, would not accept any offering from a citizen of the kingdom of darkness. Cain belonged to the realm of darkness; he belonged to the devil, the wicked one (1 John 3:12–13) because his heart was evil, wicked and unrepentant. Yes, indeed, he made an offering to God, just as we also try to give our best offerings to God on Sundays. The truth of the matter, however, is that, if we keep living a life of sin and darkness, no matter how huge our offerings are, God will never accept them; because it is never about our tithes or offerings, but about us.
The Source of The Offering Matters
We must understand that in everything we do, the source matters. Whatever we give to God does not matter more than our lives — the giver. God is not a beggar. God is not a pauper. God is not hungry. He does not need anything from us. Because He owns the silver and gold (Haggai 2:8), every beast of the forest, and all the cattle upon a thousand hills (Psalms 50:10).
The source of Cain was the wicked one. This was revealed when he killed his brother. Though he was the first giver, yet the first murderer. Yes, Cain was a believer. He believed in God, that was why he sought to please Him by offering a sacrifice. But inside he was of the devil, he was subject to the command and dictates of the flesh. Believers who are subject to the flesh will end up making themselves satanic agents. Cain was a satanic agent that was why he could lift up his hand to strike his brother, Abel, who was a righteous man.
God Considers The Giver Before the Gift
“Abel also brought a gift — the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift,” Gen. 4:4 (NLT)
Read in between the lines of the above text. It was Abel God accepted first before the offering was accepted. The Scripture never told us that God was pleased with Abel’s offering because what he offered was the firstborn, or because it was fat. Rather, the Scripture only pointed to the righteousness of Abel (Hebrews 11:4). And righteousness simply means “to be in right standing with God.” A righteous life offers to God and his offering is accepted. But everything an unrighteous life offers to God is a waste. Every work an unrighteous life does for God is an empty and unacceptable exercise.
Dear brother and sister, our lives is the best offering we can ever give to God. When our lives are holy, blameless and acceptable in His sight, only then can our offerings be acceptable before Him. May the Lord grant us understanding.
