God Looks at Your Heart Before Your Offering

Introduction

Does God look on your life with favor? The question can feel unsettling, even intimidating. Yet in his sermon preached on January 25, 2026 at the church of Nice l'Ariane, Samuel MABBOUX turns the perspective around: that favorable look doesn't depend first on God, it depends on you. On the disposition of your heart, on what you put in place to live in line with what God expects.

The base text is short, almost blunt: Genesis 4, the story of Cain and Abel. Two brothers, two offerings, two responses from God. And behind this account, a principle that runs through the whole Bible: God looks at your heart first, then at your offering. Then, in a second part, the sermon opens into Mark 16 and Acts 1 to raise an equally direct question: now that you know God is looking at you, what are you doing with what he's entrusted to you?

Article outline

1. Genesis 4: God looks at Abel before his offering

"Yahweh respected Abel and his offering, but he didn't respect Cain and his offering" (Genesis 4:4-5). Samuel MABBOUX draws attention to the order of the words: God looks at Abel first, and his offering second. The favorable look lands on the person before it lands on what they bring.

God doesn't look at what you can bring him. He needs neither your tithe, nor your service, nor your efforts. Gold and silver belong to him. Everything was created by him and for him. What he looks at is your heart. How do you do things? In what state of mind? When you pray, when you praise, when you give, when you serve, when you set aside time for the Lord: in what way are you doing it?

2. The heart of the righteous makes prayer effective

"The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective" (James 5:16). The preacher asks the question: why? Is it because the righteous person prays better, speaks better, speaks louder? No. It's because the righteous person is righteous. Their prayer carries weight because their heart is pure before God. The point isn't technique, it's the inner posture.

Cain brings an offering, so does Abel. The difference isn't in the gesture, it's in the heart behind it. And that's the heart God looks at first.

3. Mark 16: the mandate to preach, an obligation of means

The sermon then moves into Mark 16:15-18: "Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation." Samuel MABBOUX highlights an important detail: Jesus doesn't say "make them believe," he says "go and preach." You don't have an obligation of results, you have an obligation of means.

The means belong to you. What the person does after hearing the Gospel is no longer your concern, it's no longer your responsibility. Paul would tell the Ephesians: "Therefore I testify to you this day that I am clean from the blood of all men, for I didn't shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:26-27). The mandate is to go. The fruit is God's business.

4. Acts 1 and 2: God equips before he sends

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me" (Acts 1:8). God doesn't send you into battle without weapons. He equips before he sends. The Holy Spirit didn't come down only on the eleven apostles in the upper room: there were 120 of them (Acts 1:15), and the Spirit came upon all of them. Stop thinking that anointing, power, and witness are reserved for the pastor.

You too can become a channel of God's power. Not on some special day, not in some special room: at your desk, in your building, next to the person who's had a headache for twenty years, next to the neighbor who's tried everything except Jesus.

5. Dare in 2026: become a channel of God's power

The preacher tells the story of Sophie, a friend's wife, who had suffered from chronic headaches since childhood and was considering seeing a magnetic healer to "cut a spiritual cord." Right at the end of a dinner table conversation, he finally told her: "Sophie, stand up, let's pray." He laid hands on her in the name of Jesus, and she was healed. The next day she wrote to him: "Does your thing actually work?" His answer: "It's not my thing, it's God's."

The point isn't the anecdote, it's this: God is waiting for you to stand up. He would have let Sophie suffer if no one had dared to pray. Darkness, for its part, doesn't wait. Magnetic healers, psychics, fire-cutters: they dare. Often, those who belong to the light are more ashamed than those who belong to the darkness. It's time to turn that around.

Key takeaways

• God looks at your heart before he looks at your offering. The order of the words in Genesis 4:4 isn't accidental: the favorable look lands on Abel, then on what he brings.
• You cannot enrich God. Gold, silver, your time, your service: it all already belongs to him. What interests him is the disposition with which you offer it to him.
• The prayer of the righteous is effective because the righteous person is righteous. It isn't a matter of vocabulary or volume, it's a matter of a pure heart before God.
• Your responsibility is to go and preach, not to convert. The result belongs to God and to the person who receives the Gospel.
• God equips before he sends. The Holy Spirit isn't reserved for pastors: he's given to everyone who has believed, so they can be witnesses.

Personal application

1. When you pray, when you praise, when you give or when you serve, in what disposition of heart are you really doing it? Is it Abel's offering, or Cain's?
2. Is there an area where you're trying to "make up" for a heart that isn't there through effort, an amount, a quantity? What is God saying to you about that?
3. When was the last time you dared to talk about Jesus to someone: a coworker, a neighbor, a family member? What held you back?
4. What, concretely, keeps you from believing you can be a channel of God's power where you live, work, or study?
5. This week, who could you simply say to: "Can I pray for you?"

Verses cited

• Genesis 4:1-16 · Cain and Abel
• Romans 3:23 · All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
• Mark 16:15-18 · Go into all the world and preach
• Acts 1:8 · You will receive power
• Acts 1:13-15 · The 120 in the upper room
• Acts 2:1-4 · They were all filled with the Holy Spirit
• Acts 20:25-27 · I am clean from the blood of all men
• John 14:26 · The Counselor will teach you all things
• James 5:16 · The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective

FAQ

What is a "favorable look" from God?

It's the look God gives to a person whose heart is disposed to please him. In Genesis 4, God looks at Abel first, then at his offering. The favorable look lands on who you are before it lands on what you do. It isn't a merited reward, it's God's response to a heart that gives itself.

Why didn't God accept Cain's offering?

The text doesn't explicitly accuse Cain's offering itself. What strikes Samuel MABBOUX is that God looks at Abel before his offering, and therefore at Cain before his. The problem isn't first the contents of the basket, but the disposition of the heart bringing it. God even tells Cain: "If you do well, will it not be lifted up?" (Genesis 4:7).

How can I know if my heart is right before God?

It isn't a question of perfection, it's a question of honesty. A right heart is a heart that recognizes its need for Christ, that lets Jesus uproot what isn't right, and that gives, prays, and serves not to be seen but to please God. It's a heart that, like Abel, brings God "of the firstborn of his flock," the best it has, not the leftovers.