Me:  Prodigal, you look very busy today!

 

Prodigal:  I am, I have been painting all day.  I started working early this morning and have not stopped until now.

 

Me:  I could tell you a story so that you could have a short break in your day.

 

Prodigal:  I am so exhausted.  I story would be great just to let me relax and not be on my feet.

 

James Gills gives a great illustration in his book The Unseen Essentials about the story of Cain and Abel.

 

Abel, the first of the Old Testament Olympians, provides a prime example of someone who agreed with God.  God commended him not only because of his sacrifice, but because of his faith.  From antiquity to eternity, Abel has a message for believers.  To have acted “by faith,” he must have heard God speak on the importance of offerings.  How else would he have known that only a blood sacrifice would do?  The Bible declares that faith comes in one way only–by hearing the Word of God.  From this, we can deduce that both Cain and Abel heard God.  He would not have rejected Cain’s offering, otherwise.  Abel moved beyond hearing.  He believed without question.  Without hesitation.  And he demonstrated his belief through his actions.

Another message speaks from eons past.  Abel offered acceptable and proper worship because his animal sacrifice was something for which he could take no credit.  In contrast, Cain’s offering was only from the land over which he had labored. (Remember that God had cursed the land after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden.)  God’s approval cannot be earned through any work of the flesh.  “Only by faith!” cries the righteousness of Abel to our present generation.  Faith accepts God at His Word.

To worship God as he desires, we must choose to present our bodies to Him as a “living sacrifice,”  Paul writes in Romans 12.  If our obedience is but mere formality, an attempt to gain acceptance through a multitude of works, shouldn’t we, too, be rejected by the Lord?  Are we any better than Cain?  No, unless we, like Abel, worship Him correctly on the basis of a blood sacrifice.  We don’t need animals anymore–not since Calvary.  Just wholehearted faith in the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.  The choice is ours, today, tomorrow, and every day for the rest of our lives.

You are working and trying to perform perfectly.  You are worn out and weary.  God does not want you to focus on works today.  He wants more faith.  He wants more actions on faith.

 

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

 

Jennifer Van Allen

 

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org