Righteous Before God

 DEVOTION

TO HEBREWS

RIGHTEOUS BEFORE GOD

Heb 11:1-4

11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 4 By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

NIV

Having considered our faith in God’s word and all of creation came as a result of his spoken word, we need to ponder on the faith of Abel and how, if any, his faith relates to us. It seems strange that a man murdered by his brother Cain is in the chapter on faith. However, the cause of this heinous crime against Abel is precisely what puts him in this chapter of faith. His offering to God was superior to Cain's offering. Why was his offering better? It has to be an issue of the heart. Abel was a gentle man of faith. He was a shepherd in some sense as he kept flocks. Cain was a farmer, working the soil. Both are honorable labors; however, we wonder why God enjoyed and accepted the offering of Abel, but did not accept Cains? We are told that Cain brought some of the fruits from the soil as an offering. From the text, it does not appear Cain brought the first fruit of the soil, just some of it, while Abel took the firstborn from his flock and slaughtered it and brought a fat offering from that firstborn to the Lord. It was the difference between some of and the firstborn of the flock. Abel’s faith in God, offering the firstborn trusting that his flock would have more and that God would bless his offering and increase the number of his flock is why he was commended as a righteous man. This is why we take our lesson from Abel rather than Cain. Cain was a jealous man and allowed his jealousy to turn into anger that evolved into murder. Jesus spoke directly about anger or hatred being the same as murder, referring to one of the Ten Commandments, thy shall not commit murder. Should we not be a gentle person, loving God and others, without jealousy, without envy, and simply love God, have faith in Him that he will increase our lives, as we bring not some of our lives gain, but the first fruit of each gain, a fat offering from our lives, whatever that means. Of course, we have turned that fat offering into the tithe, taking that from the tenth Abraham offered to Melchizedek. Either way, we bring our offering, not out of obligation, but from our love for and our faith in God. Certainly, we have been blessed by God. It is obvious He is pleased with our offer as he has blessed the work of our hands. However, the main reason God is so pleased with us is because we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, accepting the offer God made for us. Because we are in Christ, God sees us as a righteous person of faith, like Abel. It is awesome to know that God speaks well of us and that even when we are gone, we can only hope that our lives would speak well of God, that is we hope our epitaph is, that he was a man after God’s own heart. Let us live by faith with courageous endurance to the end, righteous before God.