Get Rid of Bad Attitudes in God’s Service

“Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." ² Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. ³ In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. ⁴ But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. ⁶ Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." ⁸ Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. ⁹ Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"¹⁰ The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. ¹¹ Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. ¹² When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” (Genesis 4:1-12)

From the event that we read from the book of Genesis we understand that there were two brothers who were working under God’s care, Cain and Abel. Both of them knew that there is God, the Creator of the Universe and He is in charge of everything on the world. Both of them offered to God sacrifices but they have different response to God, and different attitude in their relationship toward Him.  God the creator of the universe is looking and watching each and everyone to weight their hearts motives toward Him and toward another human being.

God created us, and even after we sinned His grace was there from the beginning to save us. He made a way for us to come back to Him and give our lives unto Him. The Lord God sent His One and Only Son the Lord Jesus Christ to save us. Christ died on the cross for our sin, He was buried and rose from the death on the third day to give eternal life to everyone who believe in Him and follow His steps in life.

Before we come to know the Lord we were living in sin, “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. ⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”    (Ephesians 2:3-8)  In order for us to go back to God, the way is there in Jesus, and we need to confess and renounce our sins so we can have fellowship with God and with one another. “⁵This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. ⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. ⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”              (1 John 1:5-9) We need to repent from each and every sin, so we can live a life that pleases the Lord.

From the above bible story we can see clearly that Cain was walking in darkness. Although He came to know the Lord but he is still following the sinful nature of the flesh.  His deeds showed that. “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” (1 John 3: 6) The meaning of Cain is this: “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.” Cain received favour, help and good things from the Lord but he failed God because his bad attitudes had hindered him from doing God’s will. In the same way you should get rid of all the following bad attitudes if you want to be effective in your service to the Lord:   

1-     Unfaithfulness: Cain had received everything with the help of the Lord but He was unfaithful to the Lord. All what you have is from the Lord and you should be faithful to God to bring to Him the best of what He gave you. That will be the expression of your true faith in God our Lord.

2-     Anger: That comes from bitterness in the heart. Cain had Jealousy and envy against his younger brother who honour God and knew how to worship God. You should not have anger, jealousy and envy and try to fight and disqualify and hinder others from doing good service to God. You should be ready to do the good work of God.

3-     Non teachable personality: Cain did not learn from the good example of his brother Abel, as well as He did not take warning from God to control and master the sin that God had showed him. You should be humble and teachable and take warning when God is warning about sin in your life. As you know what is right you should do it. In this way your service and what you are going to offer to the Lord will be acceptable.

4-     Malice: Cain told his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And there he killed him. He had a bad motive and evil intention toward his brother. Malice should not be there in our hearts and ministry. The field is the field of harvest that God call us to evangelize and make new disciples and we should not have malice or ill feeling and play politics against one another. “Cleans our hearts O Lord, we pray.”

5-     Lack of Self-control: You should control your hearts, emotions, your mouth talks, your hands and get rid of anger. Otherwise you may end up with mess and spiritual murder in the field of God’s service.

6-     Lack of accountability: God asked Cain about his brother Abel, but he answered, "I don't know," "Am I my brother's keeper?" You must be accountable by caring for one another, and not fighting or biting one another.

My dear and Beloved: Although Abel was killed and died but till this day his ministry is alive and he still preaching; the bible tells us that, “By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.” Quality of service is important and the attitude of the worker is of great worth. Wrong attitudes and bad behaviours bring you away from God’s service and the true fellowship with Him. Take warning from the message, put your faith into action, and correct yourself as you agree to pray.

My Prayer: Father God I come before you in the name of Jesus who died on the cross for my sins to give me eternal life. Lord thank you for Your Word. I ask you to forgive me and cleanse from the following sins: Unfaithfulness – Anger – Non teachable personality – Malice – Lack of self-control – Lack of accountability. O Lord remove my bad characters and attitudes, mold me and reshape me in the way that you wants me to be, this is my prayer in Jesus name Amen.