Abel + Cain
The story of Cain and Abel is more than a story about two brothers; it is more than a story about evil versus good. Cain and Abel each represent that our behavior makes a certain presentation to God. What we choose to foster or procure with the time and freedom we have while on earth is our offering to God. What we choose to promote or obtain speaks of our character and our values.
The account of Cain and Abel causes us to ask ourselves: if I were to present an offering to God today, an offering based only on what my motivation and behavior in life had produced, what would that package look like? Would God be pleased? Would He find it productive and worth the time I have devoted to it?
KEEPER OF SHEEP
Genesis describes Abel as a keeper of sheep; it is notable that that is the sole characteristic chosen to identify him. It is important that Abel was a shepherd because it is what God loved most about him. A shepherd embodies all of the qualities God finds most valuable. Shepherds gather, they shelter, they nurture and lead. Shepherds offer protection to the meek and direction to the lost.
Abel was not simply a shepherd in life, he was a shepherd in heart; and because of that, his presentation to God was spiritually valuable and selflessly produced. Abel's life's work as a shepherd represented his dedication to the way of the Spirit. Abel dedicated to God the best of what his life had produced and thus God respected Abel.
Jesus is described as a shepherd, one who knows His sheep intimately and they Him (John 10:14). Before He ascended, Jesus pressed Peter to feed His sheep, (John 21:17) to lead and nurture His flock. Abel's description as a shepherd in the opening chapters of the Bible is an early declaration of the manner God wants us to live. Conversely, Cain's description as a tiller of the ground is a declaration of how God does not want us to live.
TILLER OF THE GROUND
Genesis describes Cain as a tiller of the ground; that is the most important characteristic chosen to identify him. Abel was of the Spirit but Cain was of the world. Abel presented what his life's work had produced; Cain presented what his life's desire had procured. Cain's values represented his behavior. He lived for himself, he culled and acquired from the world things that were irrelevant to God. Abel dedicated the best of what his life had produced, Cain dedicated an insignificant portion. It was not Cain's life's motivation to produce well for God; Cain's sole motivation was to procure well for himself.
God rejected Cain's offering and it angered Cain to not receive respect from God. But we cannot live contrary to God and expect to receive His respect. God explained that Cain needed only to do well to receive His respect. Cain did not need to do better than Abel or different from Abel, he just needed to do well. And the way to do well is to produce, not procure.
Cain's offering was not respected because God does not value things of the ground, worldly possessions. Wealth and fame, property and possession are meaningless to God. Therefore if that is all that one's life's work is able to present to God, it is a meaningless offer. God will not respect it. God's rejection of such things is not based on principle alone; God explained to Cain that within desire is sin. To dedicate oneself to worldly possessions is to yield to sin. God will never respect a child's submission to something that will harm them.
BROTHER'S KEEPER
Cain murdered Abel. Yet in killing Abel, Cain displayed more than just one sin. He displayed the myriad of sins that crop up in a life dedicated solely to the world instead of Spirit. Cain's worldly lifestyle resulted not just in murder but in lies, jealousy, anger, injustice, and mercilessness. If he had had any compassion, any empathy, his lifestyle muted it, expelled it from him.
God gave Cain the opportunity to be accountable for his actions but instead he lied, he disassociated himself from his own brother: Am I my brother's keeper? Cain asked. Yes, in fact. We are our brother's keeper. We are our sister's keeper, our mother's keeper, our father's keeper, our friend's keeper, and our neighbor's keeper. Like Abel, we should be keepers of God's sheep, shepherd's to His people.
If you live for the world, you live for the self. And if you live for the self, you neglect your purpose for being here. You take and do not give. You receive and do not share. You neglect the people your life could have nurtured. God will not respect anyone who struts instead of leads. He will not respect anyone who uses their power to control rather than protect, their position to procure instead of produce.
God explained to Cain that the earth would resist the work of the devil. Alternatively that means that the earth will assist the work of the Spirit. Are you working with God or against Him? Are you Cain? Are you Abel? Each son represents an absolute, most of us land somewhere in the middle. But if how we live is a presentation to God, we must be more intentional about what our behavior, our life's work presents.