An offering is usually a freewill donation out of one's possession to another. This can be to a fellow human being in need or to God in obedience to His commandment and appreciation for His goodness upon our lives. Now, people carry out this assignment in various ways and get a various response from God. However, if you will get a positive response from God after you have given your offering, it must be your best and sincerely given from your heart. Cain and Abel indeed offer to God out of the abundance of their harvests, but they got a different response from God. While God accepted Abel's offering, Cain's offering was rejected. Genesis 4:1-7.
So many people indeed gave much money in offering to God while Jesus sat and watched at the treasury in Mark 12:41-44. As He watched them dropping their offerings, a widow came dropping just two mites which happened to be the least amount offered and Jesus said, among all that came with their offerings, this woman has offered more than all others because that was all she possessed. Praise God!
Giving an offering is a regular practice in the church today, unfortunately, many Christians are making a caricature of it. Howbeit, their offerings never get the required response from God.
So many people see it as a tradition and a custom in the church, but God did command us to bring our offerings to Him. Malachi 3:8, "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings".
Stop seeing your offering as a gift to the pastor. Rather, give your offering to God in obedience to His commandment.
There are so many scriptural blessings when your offering is given to God with a pure heart of love and obedience.
As we can learn from the account of Cain and Abel, the following blessings are noticeable;
1. Your heartfelt and sincere offering can reopen the door of communication between you and God after you might have experienced closed heaven for wrongdoing. Cain offering was rejected but Abel offering was accepted. This however generated bitterness in the heart of Cain and he was enraged against his brother. Then, God began to speak again, having stopped communicating with the man after the fall of Adam. Genesis 4:6-7.
2. Any offering nonchalantly and lackadaisically given to God is regarded as a ground-picked offering and this is an insult to the personality of God. In Genesis 4:3, the Bible says Cain gave of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. You can imagine Cain picking fruit that fell on the ground which has been probably infected by insect and no longer appropriate for consumption as an offering to God. This is the kind of offering you give to God when you offer to God from the leftover or remnants of money in your pocket or when you offer something that is no longer useful to you. Please, be guided!
3. God responds only when you offer Him your best. Judging from the account of Abel in Genesis 4:4, Abel offered to God the firstlings (The first of its kind and the standouts of all) of his flock and the fattest among them. He gave the best of the best.
God deserves your best at all times because there is nothing we have that has not been given to us by God. Therefore, reserve the best of your resources always, first, for God.
4. Before God, you are ranked and categorised just the same way as your offering. When God accepts your offering, this means God accepts you as a person. When God rejects your offering, He equally rejects you as a person. Genesis 4:4, "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:". Please, take note of the last sentence of the scripture just quoted, " And the Lord had respect first, unto Abel, and thereafter, to his offering". Abel was recognized by the reason for his offering.
In conclusion, the offering is an important aspect of your service to God, learn to honour God with the best of your substance.
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