Day #226 - A Better Offering

The Presence - A Devotional for living in Thanksgiving, Worship and Wonder

“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.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Photo by Gor Davtyan on Unsplash

Have you ever hosted someone for a meal and desired that they enjoy what you prepared?

I grew up in a home where my Mom was such an excellent cook. She put so much attention and detail into making sure that a meal was pulled off just right. She loved hosting people and giving them an experience with food that would please their heart. It must be wired into our human nature that when we put effort into preparing food we desire to hear about how much it pleases those we have prepared it for.

There is an offering that pleases the Lord and an offering that does not. Hebrews 11, the hall of faith chapter in the Bible, is full of stories of those who pleased the Lord with their faith. Abel and his brother Cain were the first children in the Bible of Adam and Eve. Abel brought an offering to the Lord of an animal sacrifice and Cain’s offering was from his work in the field.

We don’t have specifics of what was wrong with Cain’s offering and why Abel’s was acceptable. But we do know that Abel brought the better offering. Later throughout the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, God accepted both animal and produce as acceptable sacrifices. But what we learn in Hebrews 11 looking back at this story is that Abel brought his offering to the Lord in faith. By faith Abel was accepted as righteous and his life still speaks to us today. We enter “the Presence” by bringing an offering to God in faith. Abel is a picture of Jesus for us. We become righteous by faith through the better sacrifice of Jesus.

We don’t strive to get into “the Presence.” We come on God’s terms like Abel. God is not looking for our own efforts and for us to come on our own initiative like Cain. Cain became jealous of Abel’s worship and killed him over it. When our worship is on our own terms, it reveals the anger and ugliness of our own heart. God is looking for pure and simple obedience to His desires like Abel modeled for us.

We come before God to encounter Him through the better sacrifice of Jesus. We come by faith and come in light of the offering that is acceptable to God, the finished work of Christ.

Lord Jesus, I love you! I come to God through Your sacrifice. I approach You by faith Lord to make an offering of worship that blesses Your heart. I resist coming in my own striving and efforts. I renounce the selfish desires of the flesh to bring you worship on my own terms. You are worthy of true worship. I give You my heart. In Your name Jesus, amen.