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. Hebrews11:4
Abel brought his best - whereas Cain did not. One can only assume that they had the same family tradition, had grown up with the same rituals and the same spiritual teaching from their parents.
But Abel's faith prompted him to act differently.
Many of us have all sorts of doubts, but in moments of what I call "decisional clarity" we act and our actions themselves are moments of trust and faith.
There are times that I see the pain of the world around me and I struggle with the heartache and the sorrow. I struggle to understand where God fits into all of this and I feel inadequate to explain the why's and wherefore's.
But then the moment comes where I'm looking someone in the eye... And that eye may be clouded by sorrow, pain or heartache and I get to say those important words: "Let's pray." And in that moment I reach out in tangible trust to a God who can do what I cannot.
There are times where the challenges in my own life seem to overwhelm and drown me in their complexity and multiplicity. Again, the doubts and fears threaten to paralyse. But faith prompts me - "Just take the next step!"
Did Abel struggle with the thought that his parents had been in paradise, but that he couldn't have it? Did he struggle with the fact that he lived in a broken world because of their failure? Maybe he did. But by his actions he makes a statement of faith and by that choice to sacrifice he gains beautiful decisional clarity.
Sometimes the best way to grow our faith is to do what is in front of us.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
