And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 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. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him (Genesis 4:2-8).
Cain and Abel offered sacrifices to God, but God accepted Abel’s offering, while Cain’s was not. Suddenly, Cain became angry with Abel, until arose intention to kill his brother, and ultimately realized his intention.
The question is, what was Abel’s fault against Cain? Cain offered sacrifice to God, and God did not heed it, then what was the relation with Abel? Why did Abel become the target of Cain’s anger?
An action is driven by a mindset. What is the Cain’s mindset behind his action? Cain has such a mindset: “My failure is caused by what other people do and not what I do.” This is what I call the Cain’s mindset.
Many people adopt the mindset of Cain, these are the characteristics:
1. When he experiences a failure or bad experiences, he always finds faults outside himself.
Cain failed to please the heart of God, because he did not sacrifice as God intended. If only he had wanted to evaluate and check again what he had done, he would have had an increased understanding in pleasing God’s heart.
But he only wanted to do the best according to him, whereas what we think is best, not necessarily in line with what God wants. God has outlined, there must be shedding of blood in sacrifice, but Cain did not care. And when he failed, he blamed Abel because he thought, “If there is no Abel, may be my offering can be acceped by the Lord.”
This is the wrong mindset and plunges us into many errors and sins. We should realize that what we experience is strongly influenced by what we do. If what we are doing is right; what we experience will be right too. If what we experience is wrong, it means what we are doing is not right.
Even if those around us do what is wrong to us, and therefore we have a bad experience, but if what we are doing is right, then God will change the bad experience into a right experience.
2. Difficult to accept advice because he feels no fault in him.
God has given advice to Cain so he would not fall into sin, but Cain did not heed God. People who have Cain’s mindset is very difficult to be advised, because he always feel that others are guilty, and not him.
We all need to realize these principles: Our lives are determined by our choices and decisions. Our lives are not determined by what others are doing.
The Lord himself said:
“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
By knowing the Cain’s mindset we can be free from blaming others and can immediately correct our mistakes without sinning.
Don’t miss this article: If Only We Hearken His Voice.
