LORD JESUS CHRIST

What causes a person to live away from God? Being over confident causes a person to live away from the living God. One manifestation of the overconfidence effect is the tendency to overestimate one’s standing with regards to knowing and understanding the Godly way.

Let’s take an example from the Book of Genesis. Here we see two blood brothers, one named Abel and the other named Cain. God accepted Abel’s firstborn of the flock and of their fat. God did not accept Cain’s offering of the fruit of the ground.

Genesis 4:4-5

⁴ Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, ⁵ but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

As the brothers grew up together they knew what type of sacrifice would God accept and respect and which one He would reject. Here we see Abel offering the firstborn of his flock and their fat as a sacrifice offering. In order to offer the fattest portion of the firstborn, the animal had to be sacrificed.

This is a common thing between the siblings having two different views. Cain was over confident in his approach towards God, and he cared less about God what He may or may not accept. Perhaps in his mind, he thought as though giving something to God will please Him. You see many times we are like Cain. Over confident. When it comes to giving time to the reading and meditating on the Word of God and taking time to pray, we think that God knows our problems and He is just fine with us the way we deal with Him.

The Bible describes that Cain’s offering was not even the first fruits. It was just an offering. It could have been the third, fourth or whatever kind of offering. God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has a system in place. He expects everyone of His children to abide by His rules and not ours. He expects us to give Him the first place in all matters. Same thing applies to all of us using His time, and His money. There is not a single thing that belongs to the man. Everything belongs to God the Creator.

As a born again believer one should never think that God is going to adjust according to our convenience and our behavior. We are the ones who need to learn and adjust our lifestyle according to God’s purpose and His plan. We need to learn to know His will.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!