Since men are sinners we have been doing wrong for all of our existence. We look back to Adam’s son, Cain. He became angry that God did not value his sacrifice at the same (or greater) level than his brother Abel's. He was so enraged that he murdered Abel. Cane considered his works as a sacrifice, a sacrifice of works rather than blood. There was more labor in growing crops than raising animals. When he saw Abel's gift preferred before his own he became insanely jealous. Maybe he thought, “I have to plow, sow, reap, and transport this stuff. All Abel has to do is watch his sheep feed themselves and reproduce. God’s not fair; I worked and Abel skated. God should value me more than Abel.”
Are we in a figure murdering each other for jealousy over God’s gift to another and over the blessing of God for another? Are we troubling our own souls and spoiling the life of another?
The Moabites hired Balaam to curse the Israelites as they came to the Promised Land. But God prevented him from doing it, though he tried several different ways to get around the prohibition. He was doing this because he was being paid. He was seeking profit for doing some kind of spiritual work.
Do we seek riches in the doing of God's work? If not in money are we doing it to achieve some sort of advantage? We should do God's work because it is right. We should do God's work for God's profit, not our own. What are our real reasons for what we do in the church? Is it to worship God: or is it to “put our hands together” and jump up and down in some sort of hype?
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram sought to take the place of God's appointed men, Moses and Aaron. We forget that God positions the ones he wants to be leaders in the church. We should seek a church position to benefit God's work, not for self status. Are we seeking a position within the church body for the sake of our status?
