Be aware of paper cuts when you read and contemplate the Bible. Hebrews 4:12
says the Word of God is sharper than any two edged sword. If you have sought to read the Scripture by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation and enlightenment as Paul prays in Ephesians 1:16-18, it is inevitable Have you ever felt like coming out of surgery sometimes as you close it's cover? I was reading Genesis 4, the account of Cain and Abel this morning and I was struck with the thought that I have a horrible case of Cainitis. Cain was a tiller of the ground, a gardener. Abel was a keeper of sheep or literally a feeder of sheep.
I love gardening and plants. Flowering plants are my passion. People approaching our front door are greeted by two beautiful geraniums, one a bright red, and the other one a variegated pink, in concrete pots on each side of the steps. There's a flower bed to one side with Columbine, azalea, hydrangea, bee balm. You get the idea. I'm a tiller of the ground. And you know what, I really want people to notice my plants. And I feel a little disappointment in my heart when someone comes to the door and doesn't make any comment at all about my plants. That's like Cain bringing his first crops before the Lord that he worked so hard on. He put himself into that sacrifice. Don't know what kind of vegetables it was or if it even was vegetables. But it was a testament to his prowess of gardening. But here Able was just a shepherd, and this is before the time of genetic manipulation or breeding science. He just fed the sheep. And he brought the first and best of his herd to the Lord. Now these were the descendants of the sheep that God first created, and all Able did was feed them.
One of my favorite passages is Acts 17:31, and there's a phrase that says that God gives to all, life, breath, and all things, and He's not worshiped with men's hands as though He needs anything. Cain brought the fruit of his hands, that showed his gardening skills unto the Lord as his sacrifice of worship. But you know what, I think he kind of expected God to notice what a good job he did, just like me. And God won't receive that kind of worship. He received Abel’s humble bringing of the lamb that He required as a sacrifice.
And you know what, that's kind of the way He is about our treatment of His lamb, the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. If we want to bring any of our own efforts along with us when we come before Him regarding our sin, our needs, or our worship, He's not going to receive it. No, we have to bring only the Lamb, for He was ordained as the perfect sacrifice in whom God is well pleased. Any approach to our God must be in Jesus name, not in our great skill and work, or our name. I hope after this morning's time with the Lord when He revealed to me the thoughts and intents of my heart, that maybe I will garden a little more humbly. Any offering of praise and worship unto our God is to be only the offering of Thanksgiving for His unspeakable gifts to us, even in the garden.
says the Word of God is sharper than any two edged sword. If you have sought to read the Scripture by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation and enlightenment as Paul prays in Ephesians 1:16-18, it is inevitable Have you ever felt like coming out of surgery sometimes as you close it's cover? I was reading Genesis 4, the account of Cain and Abel this morning and I was struck with the thought that I have a horrible case of Cainitis. Cain was a tiller of the ground, a gardener. Abel was a keeper of sheep or literally a feeder of sheep.
I love gardening and plants. Flowering plants are my passion. People approaching our front door are greeted by two beautiful geraniums, one a bright red, and the other one a variegated pink, in concrete pots on each side of the steps. There's a flower bed to one side with Columbine, azalea, hydrangea, bee balm. You get the idea. I'm a tiller of the ground. And you know what, I really want people to notice my plants. And I feel a little disappointment in my heart when someone comes to the door and doesn't make any comment at all about my plants. That's like Cain bringing his first crops before the Lord that he worked so hard on. He put himself into that sacrifice. Don't know what kind of vegetables it was or if it even was vegetables. But it was a testament to his prowess of gardening. But here Able was just a shepherd, and this is before the time of genetic manipulation or breeding science. He just fed the sheep. And he brought the first and best of his herd to the Lord. Now these were the descendants of the sheep that God first created, and all Able did was feed them.
One of my favorite passages is Acts 17:31, and there's a phrase that says that God gives to all, life, breath, and all things, and He's not worshiped with men's hands as though He needs anything. Cain brought the fruit of his hands, that showed his gardening skills unto the Lord as his sacrifice of worship. But you know what, I think he kind of expected God to notice what a good job he did, just like me. And God won't receive that kind of worship. He received Abel’s humble bringing of the lamb that He required as a sacrifice.
And you know what, that's kind of the way He is about our treatment of His lamb, the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. If we want to bring any of our own efforts along with us when we come before Him regarding our sin, our needs, or our worship, He's not going to receive it. No, we have to bring only the Lamb, for He was ordained as the perfect sacrifice in whom God is well pleased. Any approach to our God must be in Jesus name, not in our great skill and work, or our name. I hope after this morning's time with the Lord when He revealed to me the thoughts and intents of my heart, that maybe I will garden a little more humbly. Any offering of praise and worship unto our God is to be only the offering of Thanksgiving for His unspeakable gifts to us, even in the garden.
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