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In Genesis 4:4,5 it is shown that God accepted Abel's offering, but did not accept his brother Cain's offering. However, first we need to understand the context of the story.

Cain and Abel were the first children of Adam and Eve. However, Cain was not of good character and killed his brother Abel in the end. This was the first murder in history. In this way, Cain is the representation of a very great sin in God's eyes.

However, this story has a beginning, culminating in the murder of Abel at the hands of Cain.

Adam and Eve taught their two sons to worship and offer sacrifices to the God Yahweh, in order to worship the Lord and atone for the sins of the two brothers.  

Cain offered the fruit of the land as a sacrifice to the Lord. Abel, on the other hand, offered two of his best sheep. In other words, Cain offered a grain offering and the other offered a blood offering.

However, God Yahweh preferred the sacrifice of blood to the sacrifice of the fruits of the earth. However, this should not be misinterpreted. The absence of blood in the sacrifice offered by Cain was not the reason why God did not accept his offering to worship Him and heal Cain's guilt.

However, the reasons why God didn't accept Cain's offer lie more in his character. In 1 John 3:12, it is clear that God did not accept Cain's offer. This led to Cain later murdering his own brother out of jealousy. This already shows some of Cain's bad character. 

What were God's reasons for refusing Cain's offer?

The reason for the refusal is intrinsic to Cain's offer, his character and his intentions, as reported in Proverbs 21:27: Cain killed Abel out of envy, since God had accepted his brother's offer. He had bad intentions and bad behavior from the start.

Cain was arrogant and harbored feelings and emotions that are not welcomed by God, such as envy, sorrow, pride, arrogance and other harmful defects. This is precisely why God did not accept Cain's offer.

There's also the question of generosity, which is very much encouraged in the Bible as a quality to achieve and be a better person. It's all about the intentions and character of the two brothers, Cain and Abel, and not about what was actually offered to the Lord.

Cain gave fruits of the earth just for the sake of giving. He just wanted to fulfill a religious responsibility in order to fall under the Lord's favor and take the blame off himself.

At the same time, Cain was distant from God. It says in Colossians 3:23 that Cain didn't choose the best fruit of his land to please God, as his brother Abel did by choosing his two best sheep. So it's not about the blood sacrifice made by Abel.

Cain offered to God out of mere obligation, in order to gain privileges. Abel, on the other hand, did something very different. As well as offering his best sheep to the Lord, Abel took the time to remove the fattest parts of the animals.

In other words, he took the time to choose the right offering and to give the best of what he had to the Lord. That's the most important part: obedience, generosity, humility and other good qualities in his eyes.

Abel was not afraid to offer his best to the Lord, knowing that he would be rewarded. The same cannot be said of Cain.

Therefore, the teaching to be drawn from this biblical lesson is to offer part of your earnings to the Lord, in the form of a tithe, for example. However. It's not enough just to offer to the Lord out of sheer obligation, hoping to reap good fruit in the future.

You have to have the qualities that Abel displayed. The Bible calls this firstfruits: giving first before spending your earnings. And the most important thing is to offer God the best you can offer, as well as maintaining the qualities in your character.

The lesson is this: exercise generosity towards the Lord in the right way. Don't spend your money on superficial things before giving your tithe or offering to the Lord. If you do, you'll show yourself to be as ungrateful as Cain.

The best thing to do is not to spend your earnings on nonsense and offer all the best to the Lord. Also, make your offering out of love and not out of obligation. That's what made the difference when God accepted Abel's offering and didn't accept Cain's.