YOU ARE THE SACRIFICE

 Two young men brought their offerings to the Lord one day. One was a farmer, and the other reared animals. They were brothers from same parents. They had worked so hard, and in the process of time, they made this offering to the Lord. But the Lord accepted one, and rejected the other.

WHY? This has always been the question in the minds of many people. This is the story of Cain and Abel. Ah yes! It's very popular, so it's nothing new. We've heard, read, and spoken about it since when we were kids. We were even told in the children's ministry that Cain brought decayed and putrefied crops, so he was the one who got rejected. And then Abel brought a very fat and good looking ram as sacrifice, so God was so pleased that He couldn't find any fault in Abel's offering.

The mistake we've always made whenever we read this story in Genesis 4 is to always condemn Cain and applaud Abel, and never look at ourselves. In fact, for some persons, they've outgrown this story as there are other "heavier" matters in the bible to talk about. What they do not know is that they are building a heart that is puffed up. They think that the anointing proceeding from their lives is more important, whether it is in preaching, teaching, working of miracles, etc. It's very easy to feel we're good with God because we do those things. The truth is that we don't even realize we're going deeper and deeper in our works of sacrifice, rather than being the sacrifice ourselves.

Read what the bible says about these two offerings.

"......And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect....." (Genesis 4: 4b & 5a).

The Lord had respect unto Abel first before his offering. He disregarded Cain before his offering. It doesn't matter how much we perform. God does not look at our performance to judge us. If He does, we would never have any grades in His books. This isn't to undermine what we do for God as Christians. He has given us the power, ability and resources to do them. But most importantly, He wants us. God says "Chigozie, you first, before your works". There is every tendency for me to be caught up with the things I'm doing and want to do for God. Many a time I think about the things I haven't achieved for God and I'm so worried. And I'm being sincere. In fact before now, I used to think I'd go to hell if I do not finish "all" that I should do for God. I know a lot of people are like that. It's not wrong to want to sacrifice our time and resources for God. It's a good desire. God loves it too, and He even helps us fulfill those desires. 

Many people the Lord has used to perform signs and wonders in this world have gone, but the work still continues. God still raises more men to do those works. The essence of all these, is not what we want to achieve for God, but what God wants to achieve in us. He wants to receive us as a sacrifice. He wants to have all of us. He wants us to lay on the altar and be left there. He wants us to be completely burnt and be a sweet savor always. He doesn't just want us to worship and sings songs or bring big tithes and offerings, He wants us to be the worship. Being the sacrifice also entails living in the will of God, and being molded and transformed daily into the image of Christ Jesus our Lord. It's also worthy of note that God operates with this principle. He's more interested in giving Himself to us more than the things He can give. He knows He can give us the "things we want", but still be far from Him; and He doesn't want that.

Let's go back to the story for a moment. Because God looks at the heart and tries the reins, He saw content of Cain before the content of his basket. Going further in God's response to Cain, "You will be accepted if you do what is right" (verse 7). The "doing" starts from the condition of the heart. How humble we are before Him, how we realize we're helpless without Him, how we're completely sold out to Him. A heart that is not interested in the competition out there, knowing fully well that God's acceptance is more important than men's acceptance. It's not easy to maintain this position of heart.

What to do?

Constantly remind yourself that you're the sacrifice God seeks. This will help you not to be caught up with the rush to do things, but to be the main sacrifice in the midst of our activities.

Always make out time in the place of prayer to pray for yourself. (Yes! This is because we'are always consumed with praying for others or for our ministry, job, needs etc). This prayer is not for personal needs, but for continuous purging and renewal of our hearts no matter the level we may be.

SHALOM!