True worship

When we compare the half-hearted worship of Cain with the whole-hearted worship of Abel, I think we see the two choices that stand in front of us as Christians.

Abel realized all that he had was from God, and trusting that God would provide more lambs, offered to God the firstborn. Abel offered the very best parts and I'm sure I would have been tempted to take those choice parts and grill them up on my BBQ.

Cain was all about himself. It says he offered to God "some" of his fruits and veggies to God. When warned by God, Cain chose to ignore Him, get bitter, plot murder against his brother, and lie to God afterward.

Yes, in the beginning, Cain showed up to "do his religious duty" and make an offering. But in the end, he was alienated from God and from his family. He had children, and his grandkids were skilled. But the society he founded was sensual, violent, and selfish. Can you imagine the emptiness of his life after God exiled him? Here was a whole society that had no clue about right and wrong; kids who said "it's all about me". That's what his great-great-grandkid Lamech was like! "You young punk! You scratched my arm!" BANG! BANG! Sound familiar?

As Jesus tells us in John 4, God the Father is seeking worshippers who will worship Him in spirit and truth. God is seeking worshippers who will worship like Abel, and like Abel's baby brother Seth.

Next time you give to God's work, serve at church, pray for that person, or help someone in need (see James 1:26-27), REMEMBER how God has been to you, and GIVE with your WHOLE heart! God is good and He is so worthy of our very best! Let us please Him with true worship!

(picture by bacon pola)

When you just don't "get" that strange verse...

Dan Phillips at the Christian blog Pyromaniacs has a great post about hitting a verse you just can't understand. What do you do when you hit those weird 'bumps in the road'? Dan reviews the options available to as Christians.

This is fresh for me - I recently finished Zechariah, and folks, I am stumped. I love all the crazy images and pictures, but how do I make sense of them? Are they for the future, or were they fulfilled when Jesus first came? Both? Help!

This is why we need to be reading our Bible in a prayerful state... "Lord help me to live according to this truth, even though I don't understand it."

(Thanks to ThinkChristian.net, where I first found the link to this.)