Worship: Are you "Abel"?

This morning, I was reading through Genesis 4:1-16, the story of Cain and Abel. I've read through these words hundreds of times and never really applied them to myself in a practical way. Sure, we see how jealousy can destroy lives and we see how anger can utterly consume us. But is there something deeper to this story? What does this really say to us in the 21st century? And more importantly, what can we teach our children through this story? Well, here's my thought.

If you really listen to the words of this story, it focuses on one primary thing: Worship. It has everything to do with proper worship of God and less to do with a man killing his brother. Cain and Abel had both prepared sacrifices to God. Basically, Cain brought God some heads of grain and Abel gave God some animal fat. God seemed to like Abel's sacrifice, but not so much Cain's. Was it because Abel shed blood for God? Probably not, because the sacrificial system had not been established yet. Was it because Abel's sacrifice was worth more monetarily? Probably not. More than likely, both sacrifices would have been worth equal amounts. Actually, I think it had less to do with their sacrifices, and more to do with their intentions.

You see, I think that what we are looking at here is a heart issue. Abel came to God with a heart of thanksgiving and praise for what God had done in his life. He brought to God the best sacrifice that he could possibly think of. He was overflowing with thanks to God and in an act of worship, he gave God his best. Cain, on the other hand, simply gave God a sample of what his crops produced. He was acting in a manner of obligation, in hopes that God would continue to bless his life. His heart wasn't right with God.

God wants the best that we have to offer Him, not out of obligation, but because of who He is. He wants us to overflow with praise and worship to the point that we feel we cannot give enough! Unfortunately, many of us are not much different than Cain. We come to church and worship a God that resembles Santa Claus, because He's gonna find out whose naughty or nice, right? We look at worship in terms of what's in it for us, not what we can give to God. But, imagine how radical kids lives would change if they grasp this very basic concept or worship! Imagine the blessings that could be poured upon them if they begin to worship God like Abel! Imagine the impact on culture, if we could raise a generation of children that worship God with ALL they have and bring Him the BEST they possibly can! Imagine!