Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 535 views

    5 Powerful Lessons in The Life of Cain and Abel 1

    Uploaded by

    Mercy Balagosa Palmares
    The document discusses 5 life lessons that can be learned from the biblical story of Cain and Abel: 1) What we give makes a difference, as God accepted Abel's best gifts but not Cain's lesser ones, 2) Don't envy others, as Cain envied and killed his brother Abel out of jealousy, 3) There is a right way to do things, as God told Cain he would be accepted if he did what was right, 4) There are consequences for our actions, as Cain was punished for killing Abel, and 5) You have the power to do right, as God told Cain he could master sin and temptation.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    5 Powerful Lessons in The Life of Cain and Abel 1

    Uploaded by

    Mercy Balagosa Palmares
    535 views5 pages
    The document discusses 5 life lessons that can be learned from the biblical story of Cain and Abel: 1) What we give makes a difference, as God accepted Abel's best gifts but not Cain's lesser ones, 2) Don't envy others, as Cain envied and killed his brother Abel out of jealousy, 3) There is a right way to do things, as God told Cain he would be accepted if he did what was right, 4) There are consequences for our actions, as Cain was punished for killing Abel, and 5) You have the power to do right, as God told Cain he could master sin and temptation.

    Original Title

    5 POWERFUL LESSONS IN THE LIFE OF CAIN AND ABEL 1

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The document discusses 5 life lessons that can be learned from the biblical story of Cain and Abel: 1) What we give makes a difference, as God accepted Abel's best gifts but not Cain's lesser ones, 2) Don't envy others, as Cain envied and killed his brother Abel out of jealousy, 3) There is a right way to do things, as God told Cain he would be accepted if he did what was right, 4) There are consequences for our actions, as Cain was punished for killing Abel, and 5) You have the power to do right, as God told Cain he could master sin and temptation.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    535 views5 pages

    5 Powerful Lessons in The Life of Cain and Abel 1

    Uploaded by

    Mercy Balagosa Palmares
    The document discusses 5 life lessons that can be learned from the biblical story of Cain and Abel: 1) What we give makes a difference, as God accepted Abel's best gifts but not Cain's lesser ones, 2) Don't envy others, as Cain envied and killed his brother Abel out of jealousy, 3) There is a right way to do things, as God told Cain he would be accepted if he did what was right, 4) There are consequences for our actions, as Cain was punished for killing Abel, and 5) You have the power to do right, as God told Cain he could master sin and temptation.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    You are on page 1of 5

    5 Life Lessons From Cain and Abel:

    Giving, Envy, Decisions


    July 9, 2021 By Moses Pierre-Paul 14 Commentson 5 Life Lessons From Cain and Abel:
    Giving, Envy, Decisions

    After the story of Adam and Eve is the story of Cain and Abel. It’s found in
    Genesis chapter 4 and as you likely know Cain killed Abel after God
    accepted Abel’s gift but not his. Their story has 5 life lessons we can learn.

    The life lessons from Cain and Abel are:

     What We Give Makes A Difference


     Don’t Envy Others
     There Is A Right Way To Do Things
     There Are Consequences To Our Actions
     You Have The Power To Do The Right Thing

    What We Give Makes A Difference


    Cain and Abel both gave a gift to the Lord. The Lord accepted Abel’s gift
    but didn’t accept Cain’s. If we take a closer at how The Bible describes
    each of their gifts, we can see the potential reason why God accepted one
    and rejected the other.

    That reason brings us to the first lesson the story of Cain and Abel teaches
    us. That lesson is what we give makes a difference.

    In Genesis 4:3, it says “When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented
    some of his crops as a gift to the Lord” (NLT). At first, it doesn’t seem like
    anything was wrong with what Cain presented but after reading the
    description of Abel’s gift we see a difference. In verse 4, it says “Abel also
    brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock.”
    (NLT).

    Notice the difference in how Abel’s gift was described. Abel’s gift was the
    “best portions” of the “firstborn” lambs. On the other hand, Cain presented
    “some” of his crops.

    Give Like Abel, Not Like Cain

    Following Abel’s example, we should strive to give our best in every area of
    life. This applies to giving to both God and people. As for God, He doesn’t
    need anything from us. So when we give anything to him it’s more about
    our hearts toward him than the thing itself.

    What Cain gave reflected a heart that doesn’t highly honor God. When we
    take what we offer God lightly we have a heart similar to Cain’s.

    Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with
    all your mind and with all your strength

    Mark 12:30 NIV

    As for giving to people, The Bible says the second greatest command is to
    love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31). If we wouldn’t want anything
    from someone because they showed a lack of care, we shouldn’t do it to
    others.

    Everyone’s Best Is Different

    Before going into the next lesson, an important point to note about this Cain
    and Abel lesson is that your best is different from other people’s best.
    Using money as an example, if someone gave $50 dollars, but you gave
    $10. On the surface, it appears that the person gave more than you.

    But if that person had $500, but you only had $20 then you actually gave
    more in terms of percentage. Each person’s circumstance is different, but
    God knows everything. Like he saw Cain and Abel’s hearts, he sees ours
    and knows what we’re truly giving.

    You can learn more about how everyone’s best is different in my article 3
    Lessons To Learn From The Widow’s Offering.

    Don’t Envy Others


    The next lesson Cain and Abel teach us is don’t envy others. Although Abel
    had nothing to do with Cain’s gift and God’s rejection of it, Cain got angry
    and killed him. Cain incorrectly saw Abel as the issue. In Genesis 4:7 God
    told him that if he did what was right he would be accepted. It wasn’t that
    only his or Abel’s gift could be accepted. Both gifts could have.

    Despite him being told he didn’t do the right thing, Cain still envied Abel.
    But it wasn’t that God thought Abel was better than Cain. Given the reason
    that God rejected Cain, it tells us that Abel simply did the right thing.

    Cain’s envious reaction towards Abel seems to be human nature. We tend


    to envy people rather than consider what they had to do to get the results
    they got. We see a person with a nice home, but we don’t see their years of
    sacrifices saving for it. Similarly, we see someone get promoted on the job,
    but instead of reasoning that it’s because of their hard work, we think they
    are lucky or get special treatment.

    Envying Others Leads Us To Do The Wrong Things

    The natural human reaction to envy others isn’t based on logic and as it did
    to Cain it can lead us to do the wrong things. First Cain got angry. Then,
    apparently not getting over it, Genesis 4:8 says ‘One day Cain suggested
    to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were in the field,
    Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him’ (NLT). His anger led to
    murder.

    So we must be careful when we start to become envious of others. It can


    lead us to do the wrong things. Remember that a person having what they
    have doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t have it. Being made aware of
    what they had to do to get what they got may cause you not to envy them
    at all.

    There Is A Right Way To Do Things


    When God told Cain that he will be accepted if did what was right (Genesis
    4:7), it teaches us that there is such a thing as the right way to do things.
    This may seem obvious, but in life, we can find ourselves angry like Cain
    over problems that occur thinking it’s a mysterious reason why we aren’t
    getting the results others seem to be getting.

    The Different Response To Cain and Abel Wasn’t Discrimination

    God created laws that govern the planet. Like the law of gravity doesn’t
    discriminate, all of God’s other laws don’t discriminate. God told Cain that
    he “will” be accepted if he did the right thing. Like Abel, Cain’s success was
    guaranteed if he met the criteria.

    Instead of finding out what the right thing is, in life, we often experiment.
    And like I highlighted in the last lesson, we end up envying others,
    considering them a rival because we think they are somehow lucky when it
    is just that they are going about things in the right way.

    If Cain was wise, he could have asked Abel how to bring an acceptable
    offering to God. Instead, he allowed his human nature to take control of
    him.
    So when you aren’t getting the same results in life as someone else, don’t
    respond like Cain. Trust God’s word that there is a right way to do things
    and find out what you need to do to get the results you desire.

    Read my article 3 Things You Should About God’s Laws to learn more
    about how God’s laws don’t discriminate.

    There Are Consequences To Our Actions


    After Cain killed Abel, God punished him. In Genesis 4:11-12, he told him:

    Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed
    your brother’s blood. No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no
    matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer
    on the earth. 

    Genesis 4:11-12 NLT

    God’s response to Cain killing Abel reminds us of a lesson we all know but
    often need a reminder of. The lesson is that there are consequences to our
    actions. In the case of Cain and Abel, we see the immediate consequence.
    But in life, since the consequences of our actions aren’t always immediate,
    it may appear that there aren’t any consequences at all.

    The law of cause and effect guarantees that there are always
    consequences to our actions. In The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, he
    explains how even the seemingly insignificant habits add up over the years
    and then shock us. For example, eating unhealthy doesn’t hurt us right
    after a meal, but in time we find ourselves sick and/or overweight.

    As you go about your life, remember the immediate punishment Cain


    received for killing Abel. Some of the wrongs we do have immediate
    consequences but some don’t. Just because we don’t see consequences
    immediately doesn’t mean we won’t.

    You Have The Power To Do The Right Thing


    The last lesson we’ll look at from Cain and Abel comes from God’s
    response to Cain’s anger. In addition to telling him he will be accepted if he
    does what’s right, God said “if you refuse to do what is right, then watch
    out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue
    it and be its master” (Genesis 4:7 NLT). 

    God told Cain that he had the power to master sin. In other words, he didn’t
    have to do the wrong thing. This teaches us that we have the power to do
    the right thing because we can master sin. In life, we can find ourselves
    reasoning that we will fall short eventually and so it doesn’t make sense to
    resist the urge. As a result, we give way without any real fight when we’re
    tempted. 

    God telling Cain that he could subdue and master sin isn’t the only place in
    the Bible that hints at our power to do the right thing. 1 John 2:1 says:

    My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody
    does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the
    Righteous One.

    1 John 2:1 NIV

    John said his purpose for writing was so that they do not sin. Then he says
    “if” anyone does sin they have an advocate. John’s choice of words points
    out the same lesson.

    Get a life lesson every weekend!

    Sign up

     I respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at any time.

    Although Cain was angry, it didn’t mean he couldn’t resist killing Abel.
    Likewise, when you find yourself in tempting situations, remember you
    have the power to do the right thing. You can master sin!

    If you want to learn more about how to resist temptation. Check out my
    article 5 Lessons We Can Learn From The Temptation of Jesus.

    Conclusion
    As one of the most popular stories in The Bible, the story of Cain and Abel
    is filled with lessons. In this article, we looked at 5 of them. To recap, the
    lessons were that what we give makes a difference, don’t envy others,
    there is a right way to do things, there are consequences to our actions,
    and you have the power to do the right thing.

    You might also like