Humility is Key!

In Genesis chapter four, we read a very interesting story that has been taught in Sunday School classrooms around the world.  It is a favorite of 3rd grade teachers to help illustrate that we must control our anger and love our brothers.  That is a true and appropriate lesson, but in reality there is so much more to this story.

Jacob (my son) and I are memorizing Hebrews chapter 11 for his Bible class in school, and as we memorize each verse we are studying each individual who is mentioned in Hebrews 11 and the faith that they had in the situation they were in.  As we were going through the usual lessons on Cain, Jacob asked, "Why didn't Cain just give Able fruit in exchange for a lamb?"  This question got me thinking about the true depth of the story.    Even as I looked at Genesis 4:3, the question was, "Why did he not bring the right sacrifice?"

"And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD."

There is really one true answer and that is that Cain was not willing to humble himself.  He was not willing to humble himself to do as God commanded, or to ask his younger brother for a lamb to provide the proper sacrifice to God.  The lessons from this story can explode into a million different directions once we understand that the true destructive force in the life of Cain was his PRIDE.  

I Don't Want To :(  
How many parents have heard their children utter this phrase?  It is not one we like to hear that is for sure!  We don't like to hear it because it means that our children are not willing to obey the request we have made. Cain had this "I don't want to" attitude.  Consider the wording in verse three of chapter four.  The first phrase says, "And in the process of time..."  This indicates that it was a scheduled event that came at a regular time.  This was not some off the cuff offering, but rather it was a scheduled event that Cain should have been prepared for.  Cain does brings an offering to be presented to the Lord, but it was not the correct offering.  In Genesis chapter four and verse number five the Bible says,

"But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell"

Throughout the Bible we read that the offerings brought to the Lord were to be a spotless lamb, as a picture of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, who would redeem all mankind from sin upon their belief and faith.  
Cain did not bring a lamb, but he brought what HE worked for to present to the Lord.  He wanted God to be impressed with the fruit of his labor.  

Able, we read, was a keeper of sheep, and he brought an offering that was received by God because it was brought in God's way.  The difference between the two sacrifices goes beyond the item that was brought to be sacrificed, it was the submitting of wills.  Able submitted to the will of God, where Cain did not.  This refusing to submit to the will of God can be summed up in the word Pride.  Pride is the destructive force that encourages mankind to resist the will of God.  

I Can Do It Myself!
From getting dressed to putting a new toy together, our children start to develop an independent attitude resisting the help of parents.  While this is a sigh of relief in some areas (taking our children to the bathroom), it can also pose problems when they can't actually do the task by themselves.  Their are times when they have to humble themselves and ask for help.  

Cain needed to ask for some help!  Cain would have been out nothing more had come to his younger brother, Able, and asked to trade the fruit of the earth for a lamb to give as a sacrifice.  It would have cost him nothing extra except the humility to: 1) submit to God's will and 2) ask his brother for a sheep in exchange for his crops.  In doing so, he would not have relied on his own works, he would have relied on the work of another and been able to bring an offering that God would be able to show respect to.  Interesting when we work out the true scope of our own personal salvation and where it comes from.

Religion has followed after the workings of Cain, bringing a sacrifice to God on their own terms in their own way.  They do not rely on the work of God, but rather try to please God with their own personal works.  Pride hinders man from truly coming to God and laying their own works, efforts, gifts, talents, and desires at the cross of Calvary in exchange for salvation by the spotless lamb which was sacrificed for all sin.  

Then Again, Maybe I Can't
In the end, Able's name was recorded in the Heroes hall of Faith (Hebrews 11) for a reason.  This recorded event should be one to encourage all to realize that man cannot and never has been able to save himself.  We have to have humility enough to trust in Christ, not in our selves.  Cain paid a great price for his pride, and in the end lived a cursed life.  He was prideful to the end even in his conversation with God after the slaying of his brother.  Able, on the other hand is among the great cloud of witnesses that are encouraging all men to humbly submit to the will of God in all things, starting with salvation, and pouring over into our walk with God.  Humility and submitting to God's will is the key for you to live a life worthy of the Heroes Hall of Faith.  

Unusual Sunday!

This past Sunday, we had a very unusual day. At around 6 a.m., as I was praying and preparing for our Sunday services, I was alarmed when my doorbell began to ring over and over again. It was quite unusual for me to have anyone ring my doorbell let alone repeatedly. I opened the door to a man yelling, "Naam Tuam!, Naam Tuam!!" This is the Thai word for "flood"! I did what every man who has a man standing there yelling in a foreign language at him, I smiled shook my head up and down and said, "OK!" 

I walked out to the gate, as he ran to the next house to warn the sleeping neighbors, and saw about two inches of water in the street. To me two inches was not a reason to be alarmed, so I turned around to go back inside. After warning my sleeping neighbors of the flood, the man came running back over to my gate and told me that I needed to get my car out of my driveway to save it from the coming flood. We talked for a few minutes and I noticed the water was now higher than it was just a few minutes ago. I decided that I would move my car, if nothing more than to make our personal Paul Revere feel like he did a good job. 

As I drove through the neighborhood, there were some places that had up to six inches of flooding, but there were many streets that had no flooding in anyway. We parked the car and walked back to our house through the flooded streets. Jacob and Abby decided they would pass the morning hours before church by throwing leaves into the flooded street. They were outside for about five minutes before Jacob started yelling frantically for me to come outside. I jumped up and ran outside expecting the water to be overflowing and coming into the driveway. When I got to where Jake and Abby were, they were yelling, "A fish! A fish!" In my driveway sat a six in long snakehead fish. I asked how they got it, and they said that it "climbed" not "swam" into the driveway. They were so proud of themselves, and had me take pictures of it so that I could show it to everyone. 

Life in the mission field is sometimes difficult, usually fulfilling, but always an adventure. This is just one story of our extraordinary lives in an extraordinary country. Follow along as the seven of us enjoy our service to God and experience the adventures of the mission field.