Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Are You Holding Back From God? | Torah | Genesis 4:1-16

Episode Date: January 12, 2022

Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here to grow in your faith this year. Do you worship God with everything you have? Is there an area of your life that you're not willing to give to God? In today's episode, Jensen uses Genesis 4:1-16 to share what can happen when we aren't willing to give to the Lord wholeheartedly. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmbtpodcast Passages: Genesis 4:1-16 Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10 Minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmeth. I'm Keith Simon. I'm Jensen Holm McNair. And I'm Patrick Miller. We are exploring the first books of the Bible. Right now, we're in Genesis. Over the years, I've signed up for my fair share of email newsletters.

Some, better than others, but most of them don't bring me closer to God. Can you relate? Well, this year, I think it's time we change that. sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks email newsletter. Once a week, you'll get a blessedly short email with guides on spiritual disciplines, inspiring challenges to grow, interesting cultural backgrounds on today's passage, and even quick studies of Hebrew and Greek words. Each week is going to be a little different, and so we're hoping that you're going to love

the variety. So stop what you're doing, click the link in the show notes, and sign up. Now, let's hop into today's episode. God's creation has just rebelled. Brokenness has entered the world, and now, outside of Eden, Adam and Eve begin to create a new life. And the author of Genesis wastes no time in showing us just how deep sin runs in human hearts. If you've been in the church long, you've probably heard the story already.

After being kicked out of the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve have two sons, Kane and Abel. We're told that Abel watches over the livestock, and Cain works with the land. He's a farmer. And in Genesis 4, we get a look into their lives. We step into their story on a day that they're bringing an offering to the Lord, picking up in verse 3. Kane brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord, and Abel also brought an offering, fat portions from some of the first born of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering, he did not look with favor. So Cain was

very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Kane, why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must rule over it. Now, Kane said to his brother Abel, let's go out to the field. And while they were in the field, Kane attacked his brother Abel and killed him. It's not a good day. In Genesis 3, we knew that sin is entering the world. We heard the curse and the difficulty humans would face because of Adam and Eve's choices. But now we see it. And all its ugliness, we see it up close. The first sibling rivalry ends up with a brother killing his own brother.

Growing up, my sister and I had our fair share of dramatics. We honestly fought a lot. At this point in my life, it's clear that most of it was my fault. I'd think that I was getting unfair treatment because I got in trouble all the time and she didn't. Turns out, I was just more of a troublemaker. But that feeling made me lash out at her pretty regularly. And it was a long time before I learned to control my anger with my sister. Now, because of this, I'd say my personal history has helped me relate to Kane. But even still, in all that time, I can't say I've ever thought I might want to kill my sister. And I bet most of us can hopefully say the same thing.

You might have gotten angry at a sibling a time or two, but you're probably not in jeopardy of murdering them or anyone else, for that matter. So was there anything for us to learn from this story besides don't murder your brother? Because I think we probably feel pretty good on that front. Well, while this passage definitely passes judgment on murder, I think there's actually a lot more that we can take away from this sibling dispute. When we take into account the whole story, we can see that there's a deeper problem

in Cain's life that many of us are far more likely to relate to. Looking back at Genesis 4, the turning point in this story seems to be God's rejection of Cain's offering. It's what upsets him enough to actually kill his brother. So why does God reject Cain's offering? The story itself doesn't actually give as much. It just tells us that God did not love. It just tells us that God did not look with favor on his offering. And when you read it, it can actually seem a little confusing, maybe even unfair on the surface. Kane brought a sacrifice just like his brother, didn't he? What makes Abel so much better? Hebrews 11 gives us insight into this. By faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Kane, through which he was commended as righteous. Abel had faith that

Cain didn't. Cain offered some of his crop. Abel offered the best of his flock, the firstborn, the best of the meat, the fat portions. See, Abel had faith that his brother didn't. His offering was a sacrifice that forced him to trust that God would provide even without the best of his flock. Kane gives a faithless act. It looks good from the outside, but he's really just offering God his scraps. Unlike his brother, he doesn't have faith to trust God with his best. Can you relate to Cain now? Do you ever put on a good Christian face, do the things you need to do, show up to church on Sunday, pray when things get hard? Maybe you attend a weekly small group, but when it comes down to worshiping the Lord, sacrificing your comfort, your desires, your future, you tend to withhold the best. It's hard to admit it, but I think sometimes I try to figure out just how much I can give to God to get by as a good Christian. While still holding back the areas of my life, I'm not quite ready to give control of. It can so often feel harmless.

I tell myself, I deserve a break on social media, even if it takes over time with my family and makes me far more discontent with the life I have. I think as long as I go to church on Sunday, it's okay if I can't make time for reading my Bible during the week. Or as long as my husband and I give part of our income to the church, it shouldn't really matter how we manage the rest of our finances. a nice person most of the time, so it's okay if I get upset, let my anger out on my husband every once in a while. I give just enough to feel safe. Maybe you do too. But Kane's story should wake us up. His half-hearted faith leads him to disobey and ignore God's warning to rule over the sin in his life, and he ends up killing his brother. His half-hearted faith led to real, tragic, life-altering sin. We may not think that we can murder those closest to us, but I know I'm guilty of lashing out

and anger and hurting those I'm called to love. We may not plan on robbing a bank, but are we guilty of robbing our families of time and affection because we just have to put in the extra hours to get ahead at work? We think we're safe from the big stuff because we give God just enough of an offering. But we, like Cain, cannot hope to conquer the sin in our life apart from faith. and trust in God. When we withhold bits and pieces of our life from God, when we offer up a half-hearted faith, sin is crouching at our doors and it desires to have us. Will we heed God's warning? Will we learn from Cain? God isn't interested in our half-hearted offerings to him. He's asking

for the firstborn of our flocks, the fatty portions. He's asking for a faithful, righteous heart like Abel's. He's asking for everything. Will you give it to him? What if this week, instead of giving a safe offering to the Lord, you found one thing, one thing that you've been holding back that you can entrust to him? What if we all offered the best of our life this week, even if it doesn't feel safe or easy? Let's be the people who live lives built on faith like Abel, lives where we are faithfully laying everything at the feet of our God. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help

encourage you in the middle of the work week and bring you deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.