If we want God’s favor in our lives, we must do what is right. In the Genesis story about Cain and Abel we have the perfect story and example of this.
“…Abel became a shepherd, but Cain was a farmer. After some time Cain brought some of his harvest and gave it as an offering to the Lord. Then Abel brought the first lamb born to one of his sheep, killed it, and gave the best parts of it as an offering. The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering, but he rejected Cain and his offering. Cain became furious, and he scowled in anger. Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why that scowl on your face? If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling; but because you have done evil, sin is crouching at your door. It wants to rule you, but you must overcome it.’ Then Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let’s go out in the fields.’ When they were out in the fields, Cain turned on his brother and killed him. The Lord asked Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ He answered, ‘I don’t know. Am I supposed to take care of my brother?’” (Genesis 4:2b-9 GNT) (Note: Other translations use this more familiar phrase: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”)
In Genesis, up to this point, there doesn’t seem to be any specific instructions to this first family regarding sacrifices – what and how to present them to Him. We can only assume that He must’ve spoken something to them though, since it seems to have been a natural thing for Cain and Abel to do.
We are told in verse 2b-4a that Cain brought some of his harvest as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought the firstborn sheep and gave the best parts of it as an offering.
Cain, it says, only brought “some” of his harvest as an offering to God. It does not say that it was the first of his harvest or the best of his harvest – it was just “some”. But Abel we are told brought his offering – the firstborn – this would be the “first fruits”- the best. So at this point, it’s important to note that Abel’s offering required the shedding of blood, whereas Cain’s did not. Had they been instructed at some point about the blood offering? Is this what made the difference in the way God viewed their sacrifices? Or, was it simply because Cain didn’t necessarily bring the best?
When Cain became angry that his offering was not pleasing to God, he was told by God in no uncertain terms in verse 7 “’If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling; but because you have done evil, sin is crouching at your door. It wants to rule you, but you must overcome it.’”
I suspect that Cain very likely conspired, for some reason, to keep the best of his crop for himself. Why? I can only guess. But he obviously gave no thought to the fact that he was not doing what God had likely commanded of them and thought he could pull a fast one. (Whether it was just the issue of it not being the best firstfruits – or whether it wasn’t a blood offering.)
Abel, on the other hand, knew what he was supposed to do and did it. He was rewarded with the full approval of his heavenly Father.
We can further see the evil nature of Cain (the sin crouching at his door) when he lured his brother Abel out into the field where he attacked and killed him. Then he had the audacity to lie to God when he was asked where his brother was – spouting the cocky response that we read in verse 9b “’I don’t know. Am I supposed to take care of my brother?’” He is fortunate that he was not struck down by lightning right on that spot! He just wanted to do things halfway, make do and reap the rewards.
How often do we do things halfway, just trying to skate by? We know we did not give it our all and that the result was not our best. But, we will then sometimes rationalize and compare ourselves to others, thinking that at least we did something which is “more than they did.”
I have at times done that and I am sure that at some point in time, most of us have. But I also know that I did not feel good about it vs. how I felt when I took on a job, gave it everything and ended up with the best results possible.
I have always had a lot of pride in a job well done and was self-motivated and enjoyed feeling successful. But perfect I was/am not. We can disappoint ourselves and we can disappoint others, but we should never short-change God and disappoint Him as did Cain. Unlike that first family, we have the advantage of having God’s Word to teach and guide us about what is right and what is expected of us. If we are not certain about it – we should find out the answer before proceeding.
What we need to realize is that we should not compare ourselves to others and expect that the results will be what they should be. It would not be to our advantage to let our shortcomings (real or imagined) to create envy and/or anger in our lives. We need to just always do all we can, to be all we can be. It should not matter if we are dealing with our family, our employer, our friends, our church, even strangers – we should always just do our best and do what is right. Our heart’s desire should always be to please our Father.
Written by Karran Martin – January 2019 – Revised October 31, 2025
Karran's Korner 