Attitude

DEVOTION

GENESIS

ATTITUDE

Gen 4:6-7

6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

NIV

Well, our scholars are all about the fact God told Cain he should have brought an animal offering. That would have been the right thing to do. But there is something else here perhaps their predisposed thinking could have impeded finding. This may not have anything to do with Cain being corrected about his type of offering. The question the Lord asks him is, “why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?” The question is about his attitude, not his offering. It is interesting when we consider the fact that Cain was a farmer. The life of an agricultural family would not be nomadic in nature but steady and home bound. They were not wanderers as some anthropologists would suggest. However this is not to the point of which we learn our life lesson. It is in the exchange between Cain and the Lord. What was the right thing for Cain to do in order to be accepted? Is not bringing a fat portion as an offering sin? Perish the thought. It was his attitude that was bringing sin crouching at his door. How could he master bringing the right offering? What he could master is his attitude, this is what the Lord was bringing to his attention. He was angry, he was downcast, this attitude will lead to sin, and he must master it before he commits this horrible act which is building within. So what would be the acceptable thing for him to do? What did the Lord expect from him? A better offering? A better attitude? Although it is true the Lord did appreciate the fat offering of Abel and was not so pleased with the grain offering of Cain, this is not a reason to consider murdering his brother. If we visit all the laws the Lord instructed the people that is recorded in Leviticus we would fine all sorts of instructions concerning grain offerings. Grain offerings are acceptable to God. He does give specific instructions as to how they should be offered, but the point is he accepts grain offerings. Perhaps Cain did not fix the grain in the right manner, but then God had not given this instruction yet, at least that we know of. So we are still left with the point being about the attitude of Cain which the Lord is concerned with, and how this attitude is breeding sin. This is our lesson. We cannot allow our attitudes to breed sin in our lives. When we are either jealous or envious of others it leads us into a sinful condition. True we would never consider murder, as Cain is about to, but we certainly could develop a little hatred in our hearts toward those we are jealous of. This hatred is extremely dangerous.

1 John 3:15

15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

NIV

Cain and Abel were brothers, there should have been love between them that ran so deep nothing could ever come between them.

1 John 2:9-11

9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.

NIV

Love overcomes any stumbling. If Cain truly loved Abel he would not have stumbled, but he did, and therefore the darkness was within him. We cannot ever allow this anger, this downcast jealous or envious attitudes creep into our heart and thus our thoughts. When we allow this kind of thinking, it builds into an attitude which is not acceptable to God. When this attitude is allowed to fester it can build to, yes even a certain degree of hate. Hate is simply not allowed. Could we just dislike a little without hating? That might be a fine line that we should not even get close to.  We need to stay far from it, doing that which is right, loving our brothers, loving our neighbors as ourselves. If Cain would have loved Abel he would have rejoiced at the pleasure God had in Abel’s offering and asked God how he could bring a more acceptable offering as well. He could have used that moment as a learning experience, this would have been the right thing to do. But he did not, and we are going to see the result of allowing a bad attitude fester into action and the result it brings. We cannot allow this to be a part of our lives, we must always have love in our heart. That is easier said than done. There are some people who simply rub us the wrong way. There are others who dare us to have a bad attitude by their words, their ideas, even their actions. Can we guard against having a bad attitude toward them by just ignoring them? It is doubtful as we know them, we have to be in contact with them at some time or place. So then we need to have love in our hearts, and that is doing what is right and we will be accepted. But if we allow those attitudes other than love in, sin is crouching at our door. Surely Satan did not leave that family. Surely he was still about tempting them to do that which would bring them condemnation from God. Certainly he was the one tempting Cain to have a bad attitude. He has not changed, as he tempts us in the same way.   Let us be on guard with our attitudes. We must be the master of our attitude.