I’ve often wondered why God accepted Cain’s sacrifice and not Abel’s.
I’m starting to think it was partly a matter of motives. Perhaps Cain only did the sacrifice because he “was supposed to” and perhaps Abel did it with a purer heart.
In the Pearl of Great Price (Moses 5:18), we get more information on the two sacrifices. It states:
“And Cain loved Satan more than God. And Satan commanded him, saying: Make an offering unto the Lord.”
It sounds like Cain was obeying Satan and trying to appear good. Also, perhaps he was going through the motions because he was “supposed to”, while maybe Abel was doing it from the heart and out of obedience to God.
That worries me because how often do we do things because we’re “supposed to” instead of because we have the right priorities and a constantly loving heart?
I think a great plan for today is to try to have a better motivation for the things I have to do. Rather than “I have to do this” I’m going to try to focus on an attitude like “How can I make this most meaningful for everyone I’m serving?” We’ll see how it goes…