Cain or Abel?
(Gen. 4:1-8)

Adam and Eve who committed the sins, were expelled out of Eden which had everything abundantly to the cursed place with thorns and bitter plants. They had to face the diseases and death physically. However, they gave birth to Cain and Able thanks to the help of God despite their hardships.

1. Sacrifices of Cain and Abel
In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD while Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. Abel prepared the best things with his faith but Cain just offered as a formal ritual. God sees our hearts and attitudes of life rather than the values of the offerings. Abel shed the blood of animals. The offering of the blood is to hide the sins of human beings. It is completed by the sacrifice of Jesus. (Heb. 9:12) When we depend on the precious blood of Jesus, we will be the true worshipper to give faithful worship service that God wants to receive.

2. Cain’s wrath
Soon, Cain was very angry because God did not receive the worship service of his. He had to look back on his life and repent his sins before God. Likewise, we have the image of Cain. Even we believe in God, we pursue our selfish goals and get angry when our wills do not come true. God asked Cain to control his anger not to commit sins. It is easy for us to commit sins when we become angry. Therefore, we should control our temper and mind. We should get rid of the image of Cain. (1 Cor. 15:31) We should fill our hearts with the blood of Jesus to remove anger and live a life with God-oriented priorities.

3. Sin and Grace
The anger of Cain led to the murder of his younger brother, Abel. His crime was not impulsive. He planned to call out his brother to the field and attacked his brother Abel and killed him. His mind was taken by the evil and it shows the sinful nature of humans. Sinful humans are easy to betray God and turn to the sins in spite of the love, forgiveness, grace and blessings of God. We should depend on the words of God every day by being filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit to conquer the sins. We should stand on the righteousness out of the ways of Cain. (Ps. 1:1-2) We should be helped by God to fight against the sins and give glory to God so that we can be acknowledged and blessed by God