30 Little Things: The Book of GenesisSample

Giving our Best. (Cain and Abel pt.1)

We don't have to be rich before we can give God the best that we have. No, God doesn't need us to give out one million dollars to make Him happy. The definition of what is best is not determined by the dollar value, or perhaps the quantity of what we are about to give away. But the best means simply giving the most that we can give. God didn't say we have to get 100 and A+ on our exams and He will then be happy with our offerings, but He does want us to bring our exams to prayer with all our hearts, study as hard as we can and do the exams with all our effort. If after completing all the exercises included in the textbook and memorizing all the glossary terms we only got a C, God won't mind at all! As long as we acknowledge God in the process, surrender to His will and give all that we have for His glory, He will be pleased.

In Genesis 4: 3-5, God wasn't pleased with Cain because he only gave some of his crops, while Abel gave God the best of his firstborn lambs. You see, it is not about how much we give or how good our gifts look. To God, what matters is whether we are giving Him parts of what we can give, or all very best of what we can give.