Cain and Abel

Most people with any Bible knowledge at all know the story of Cain and Abel. Cain was born to Adam and Eve, and Abel followed. Abel kept the flocks, while Cain "worked the soil"—in other words, he was a farmer, and Abel was a shepherd. Abel brought sacrifices to God from the firstborn of his flocks, and Cain offered choice fruits and vegetables. God looked on Abel's sacrifices with favor and essentially ignored Cain's offerings. Cain grew angry and took his brother out into the field and killed him. God cursed Cain for what he had done, and Adam and Eve had another son named Seth in place of Abel.

But this story isn't just about what offerings each brother brought to God and which one God favored. Something that caught my attention a little while ago was the fact that the Mosaic Law hadn't been established yet. What does that have to do with anything? Well, the Mosaic Law set down the rules for sacrifice: the what, when, where, why, and how of sacrifices. Before God had even commanded mankind to make sacrifices to Him, Abel was already presenting Him with sacrifices of the best of his flocks. While Cain brought colorful fruits to God, picking from the abundance of vegetation available to him, Abel picked the best of his limited supply of animals, which were considered to be a man's wealth in Old Testament times. Abel gave up what was his "gold" and offered it to God, while Cain basically offered dirt.

We should imitate Abel's example, giving our best, even when we're not required to, because we know that it pleases God. The story of Cain and Abel is the Old Testament version of the story of the poor widow in Luke 21:1-4 who "out of her poverty put in everything she had to live on" while the rich gave a fraction of their abundant wealth. If we give what we have plenty of, if we "sacrifice" what we can give up easily, then it's not really a sacrifice, and we dishonor God. Sacrifice is giving up something that it would hurt you to lose. Like Abel killing the firstborn of his flocks, like the woman giving the remaining two coins left in her possession, we are to give God what it would be unreasonable to give up for anyone else. And when we do so, God will bless us—not necessarily in this life, but definitely in eternal life—and look on us with favor.

"But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does." ~ James 1:25