Genesis 4:3-5 -- On Respect and Offerings

"And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell."
Genesis 4:3-5


This reminds me of D&C 9:7 where the Lord explains "you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me."

Cain brings an offering, but clearly it wasn't the best he could do. God tells him "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?" so it seems like Cain knew that he could have done better... what exactly that means, I am not sure. Perhaps he didn't bring the best of what he had, and kept it for himself, or perhaps he knew that the law was an offering of an animal and he rebelliously brought what he had made instead, thinking that the rule was unfair.

I think the same thing happens to us sometimes, in terms of not being accepted. If we are scraping by, but giving the Lord what we can, he will accept it, just as he did with the woman who threw two mites into the Lord's treasury. It was all she had, and in monetary terms almost nothing, but the Lord recognized her sacrifice and effort (Mark 12:42-44). Those same two mites, figuratively, wouldn't be acceptable from someone else who could offer much more... if we're slacking off on the gospel because we can't be bothered, or we're prioritizing our own projects over God, then God is going to give the same respect to our offering as we are giving to him... very little.

Today, let's take some extra thought about what we are doing for God, and how we are prioritizing him in our lives. Let's carve out some time to read and pray and study, and other things that the Lord asks, even if it costs us something in some other aspect of our lives. Let's make God the top of the priority list and not the bottom. As we do, no matter what we can give, even the equivalent of our symbolic two mites, will be acceptable, because God will see truly what it means to us and will respect our offering.