a matter of Cain and Abel.

---Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 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 rule over it." --Genesis 4:2-7

---For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. --Romans 6:23


When I was a kid, God's approval of Abel's offering--as opposed to his disapproval of Cain's offering--always seemed a bit random to me. Why wasn't Cain's sacrifice good enough for God? It seemed to me like each of Adam's sons was trying hard to please God; why is a dead animal better than vegetables? It was later explained to me that the sacrifice of an animal was part of the foreshadowing that God implemented in the Bible--a preemptive, real-life parable. Ok, good enough. I mean, it was apparent that God gave Cain plenty of chances to get it right; it was apparent that Cain knew what sacrifice was expected. And God didn't really swat Cain in the butt until he did something that was obviously evil.
Today, I have realized one implication of Cain's actions that had hitherto remained hidden from me. Abel's offering depended on God's grace more so than did Cain's. Abel kept flocks; Cain worked the soil. One son brought what was given him by God in the first place; one son brought what he was able to produce himself. It reminds me of a passage from Mere Christianity by CS Lewis:

--So that when we talk of a man doing anything for God or giving anything to God, I will tell you what it is really like. It is like a small child going to its father and saying, "Daddy, give me sixpence to buy you a birthday
present." Of course, the father does, and he is pleased with the child's present. It is all very nice and proper,
but only an idiot would think that the father is sixpence to the good on the transaction. 1


Death--the only wage we can earn--results from the best of our work; but, fortunately for us, God's work yields a gift of grace that extends far beyond our comprehension.

1 [C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan PublishingCompany, 1960), 125.]