Tuesday 5 Dec 2017

December 5: Hebrews 11:4

Key Verse: Hebrews 11:4
By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

Devotion:
When we start to do what God wants us to do, we are going to upset others; not because of our actions, but because it probably makes them look bad in some way. When people start to see us acting like the Christians we say we are, they are going to take notice because we are now practising what we preach – literally. Jesus did not go round saying one thing and doing another – He made sure that what He said, He did. Oh how wonderful it would be to live up to such a standard!

In the next few verses in Hebrews 11, we are reminded about various people from the scriptures who have shown faith. What is different about Cain and Abel is that we know so little about them. Cain looked after crops and Abel looked after the animals. Together they provided food for the family. But in order for them to know about sacrifices, God must have given that knowledge to Adam in the first place. God must have told them about making a blood offering to cover their sins. The rules before Christ died for our sins were simple. Make sure you offer a blood sacrifice which is good, without blemish. What better sacrifice than an innocent lamb.

Christ died on the cross as our blood sacrifice so we would no longer have to offer blood sacrifices which did not quite live up to the mark. No single sacrifice before Him was enough to cover all sins, forever! Every sacrifice before was a temporary solution. If people did not offer the blood sacrifice, they were not forgiven. They did this all because of their belief of the unseen God. They did it because they knew it was right. Short cutting anything was wrong and Cain knew it but still chose the wrong way. The result was that he got so upset when God did not like his own sacrifice, he ended up killing his brother... We need to give up on our ways and follow the rules God has laid down for us. Acknowledge Christ as your last blood sacrifice and ask for His forgiveness. You know it is right.

Points to Ponder:
How often do you have to say sorry for thing you do wrong?

Have you chosen to say sorry to Christ yet?