Abel was tempted too, but ...
“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.” (NIV) Hebrews 11:4
The narration about Cain and Abel in the Bible has generated several lessons, thoughts and warnings to all people across generations. And rightly so, since all the things written in the days of old were put down for our learning. (Romans 15:4) The famous story, however, unfolded thus;
"Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering - fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering, he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast". (Genesis 4:2b-5)
It can be seen that Cain got highly offended when he realized that his sacrifice had not gained favor with the Lord. This may have led to several evil thoughts in the heart of Cain. He probably might have thought, “but why me, why won’t I be bitter against my brother - after all he is even the younger, isn’t he, where on earth should I place second to my own brother”, and on and on.”
Cain also appeared disappointed in God (Genesis 4: 9), as if God had a personal issue with him. From the account, Cain was not rejected, nor any partiality shown against his personality (2 Chronicles 19:7, Job 34:19). Cain rather had his sacrifice rejected- the lesson being that it’s only God who determines the terms of worship (Hebrews 11:6, Proverbs 3:5-6). We do not tell Him what He should prefer. However, if we go wrong, it is always not too late to put things right with God. The Psalmist accurately wrote later, “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)
We may be tempted to take it lightly that Abel had all the ‘goodies’ without a sort of test. Certainly, he was free in choosing his attitude after the sacrifice was made. For instance, Abel could have easily yielded to pride and self-righteousness after the acceptance of his sacrifice by God. He could have bragged that it was all by his hard work and human effort that had brought him that far. And yet, we only read of a humble Abel who by all indication, was well-tuned to his maker and still speaks even after his death (Hebrews 11:4).
Praise be to God that now the blood of Christ speaks better things than that of Abel (Hebrews 12:24). Christ’s sacrifice gives us grace and hopes that we can have a better, changed and godly attitude when we take time to invest in our relationship with Him. The time is now to act for we shall all give an account of our lives to Christ on the judgement day (Romans 14:12).
Beloved, Abel was tempted too, but by grace he made it- and we can too.