April 2: Faith That Gives the Best

By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.” — Hebrews 11:4 (NKJV)

Some people bring God what is left over.

Not out of malice, and not always out of rebellion. Sometimes it is simply the quiet habit of a heart that has not fully decided who comes first. The bill gets paid. The obligation gets met. But the best of the energy, the best of the time, the best of the resources, that goes somewhere else first, and God gets the remainder. Abel’s story draws a sharp line through that kind of living.

The text does not give us an elaborate backstory. We are simply told that Abel brought the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions, and Cain brought an offering from the fruit of the ground. At first reading, both men brought something. Both showed up. Both had something in their hands. But God had regard for Abel’s offering and not for Cain’s, and the difference was not the category of the gift. It was the quality of the heart behind it. Abel brought the firstborn, the best, the choicest. He did not wait to see what was left after everything else was accounted for. He gave God the first and the finest, and that act of worship was itself an act of faith, a declaration that God is worth the best I have.

Hebrews tells us something remarkable about Abel: he being dead still speaks. His life was cut short by his own brother’s jealousy, and yet centuries later, his offering is still preaching. What he gave in faith outlasted his time on earth. That is the peculiar mathematics of a life surrendered to God. What you offer in genuine faith does not disappear when the moment passes. It echoes forward into generations that never met you.

There is also something worth sitting with here. Abel’s worship cost him something. The firstborn of the flock was not the spare; it was the most valuable. Real faith-filled worship is rarely cheap. When it costs you nothing to give, it may be worth asking whether you are truly giving or simply disposing of what you no longer need. God is not looking for your surplus. He is looking for your first.

Take a quiet moment today to examine what you are actually giving God in this season. Not just financially, though that matters, but your time, your attention, your creative energy, your emotional presence in prayer. Is He getting your first and your best, or is He getting whatever the day left behind? Ask the Holy Spirit to show you one area where you have been giving God leftovers, and make a decision today to reorder it. Even a small reordering, done in faith, is an offering God notices.

Prayer

Father, I want to be an Abel in my generation. I do not want to bring you what is convenient or what costs me nothing. Forgive me for the seasons when I have given you my remainder and called it worship. Today I come with open hands, asking you to show me where I have held back the best. Teach me to honour you with my firstfruits, my first thoughts in the morning, my first energy in the day, my first trust when a problem arises. I want my life to still be speaking long after I am gone. Receive my offering today, Lord, not because it is perfect, but because it comes from a heart that is choosing you first. In Jesus’ name, amen.