Genesis 4:3-7 Master or mastered?

3So in the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruit of the soil as an offering to the LORD, 4while Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock.

And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell.

6“Why are you angry,” said the LORD to Cain, “and why is your face downcast? 7If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you refuse to do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; you are its object of desire, but you must master it.”

God sees the heart, Cain’s offering was rooted in dead religion. Abel’s offering was made in faith. Notice the wording, “brought some of the fruit of the soil”. It doesn’t say “best” and “brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock”. 

Some or best......

Cain’s offering would have been pleasing to the eye, Able’s a bloody mess.

Give out of faith, not because you feel obligated.

Cain’s anger was rooted in pride and jealousy. God asked him a question so Cain would think about his anger. God also warned him, “sin is crouching at your door; you are its object of desire, but you must master it.”

Instead Cain’s anger “mastered” him. In other words, it consumed him.

What do you do when you are angry? Do you master it, or are you mastered by it?

Blessings, David 

Genesis 4:1-2 Abilities

Genesis 4

Cain and Abel

(Romans 2:1-16; Jude 1:3-16)

1And Adam had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain.a

“With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man,” she said.

2Later she gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel.

Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the soil.

This is the first account of a baby being born. Adam and Eve had high hopes for their first born son but instead they were raising a murderer.

Able was their second child and we can see from their occupations they didn’t evolve from hunter, gatherers!

We are all born with certain abilities and Cain’s ability was farming and Able’s was livestock.

Ability; talent, skill, or proficiency in a particular area.

I was born with mechanical ability.

What ability were you born with?

Blessings, David 

You can't take it with you! 1 Timothy 6:6-10 NLT

"You never see a hurst pulling a Uhaul."

There was a man who had worked all of his life and had saved all of his money.

He was a real miser when it came to his money. He loved money more than just about anything, and just before he died, he said to his wife, “Now listen, when I die I want you to take all my money and place it in the casket with me. I want to take all my money to the afterlife.”

So he got his wife to promise him with all her heart that when he died, she would put all the money in the casket with him. Well, one day he died.

He was stretched out in the casket, the wife was sitting there in black next to their best friend. When they finished the ceremony, just before the undertakers got ready to close the casket, the wife said, “Wait a minute!”

She had a shoebox with her. She came over with the box and placed it in the casket. Then the undertakers locked the casket and rolled it away.

Her friend said, “I hope you weren’t crazy enough to put all that money in there with that stingy old man.”

She said, “Yes, I promised. I’m a good Christian, I can’t lie. I promised him that I was going to put that money in that casket with him.”

“You mean to tell me you put every cent of his money in the casket with him?”

“I sure did,” said the wife. “I got it all together, put it into my account and I wrote him a check.”-Unknown Author 

1 Timothy 6:6-10 NLT 

6 Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. 7After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it.  8 So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. 

9 But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.  10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. 

Blessings, Cecilia

Genesis 3:22-24 Unattended Gardens

22Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...”

23Therefore the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24So He drove out the man and stationed cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden, with a whirling sword of flame to guard the way to the tree of life.

“Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil.” This verse is difficult to understand. Sarcasm? 

“lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...” live forever as a sinner.

banished; send someone away as official punishment. 

“24So He drove out the man and stationed cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden, with a whirling sword of flame to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Cherubim are always associated with the presence and glory of God, we hear them mentioned in Exodus, 1 Kings, Ezekiel. 

Adam and Eve could always come there to visit God, this was their holy of holies but the way to the tree of life was guarded keeping man and Satan away.

This is the last time the Garden of Eden is mentioned. Did God destroy it or did He allow it to dissolve into the landscape because sin had infected the world?

What happens to your garden if left unattended?

Blessings, David 

Genesis 3:20-21 Is the Lamb of God your garment?

20And Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

The Expulsion from Paradise

21The LORD God made garments of skin and clothed Adam and his wife.

Up until this point Eve was called female, wife, mankind. In verse 20 Adam names her Eve.

“She was not a mother at all, but as the life was to come through her by virtue of the promised seed, Adam marks his full conviction of the truth of the promise though at the time the woman had borne no children.” (Spurgeon)

“The LORD God made garments of skin”, the first blood sacrifice for sin. Adam named the animals and you can be assured he knew which ones shed their blood because they ate from the tree God commanded them not to eat.

Have you ever wondered why God required a blood sacrifice for sin? I believe it’s because when sin entered the world it required animals to die for their skins for clothing.

“Some creature had to die in order to provide them with garments, and you know who it is that died in order that we might be robed in his spotless righteousness. The Lamb of God has made for us a garment which covers our nakedness so that we are not afraid to stand even before the bar of God.” (Spurgeon)

Is the Lamb of God your garment?

Blessings, David 

All. The. Time. 1 Timothy 6:2-5 NLT

I've been looking at these verses all week. I've studied them, dissected them and pondered them. I've been stuck. It's because of verse 4. Not the first sentence, the second. The reason I've been stuck on this section of scripture is because I am convicted but didn't want to admit it. 

I am guilty. Not of quibbling over scripture but a "desire to quibble over the meaning of words." At least with my sister. Sometimes she says the most nonsensical things and I can't resist calling her on it. She gets frustrated with me and I find it amusing. It's caused more then one rift between us. 

I need to stop doing that. I need to be more like Christ. All the time.Not just part of the time. All. The. Time. 

1 Timothy 6:2-5 NLT 

False Teaching and True Riches 

Teach these things, Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them.  3 Some people may contradict our teaching, but these are the wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. These teachings promote a godly life.  4 Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions.  5 These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy. 

Blessings, Cecilia

Genesis 3:19 Dust and a Promise!

19By the sweat of your brow

you will eat your bread,

until you return to the ground—

because out of it were you taken.

For dust you are,

and to dust you shall return.”

Sin condemned us to a life of toil and sweat, until we return to the ground! 

Think of the Garden of Eden before sin entered the world. 

I can only imagine what it must have been like, without decay and the beauty of God everywhere.

We are nothing but dust, to dust we shall return like generations before us.

But those of us in Christ have a Promise to look forward to. 

He is preparing a place for us in heaven. A place without decay, a home, a mansion with many rooms built out of love.

After this world of decay and dust, I look forward to that day. The day I meet my maker and see what He’s prepared for me!

Do you look forward to that day?

Blessings, David