NOTE: SCROLL DOWN TO THE GIVEAWAY POST TO SEE WHO WON!!!
I am STILL waiting on that final piece of the puzzle to fall into place to tell you about the ministry opportunity that I had last weekend. So, while we wait, let me share with you what the Lord showed me in my personal Bible study time this week.
If you have been reading The Point for a few months you will know that in the summer I did a study of the book of Hebrews and wrote some on that. I was not able to complete my study because of my Tuesday morning Bible study beginning in early August. I cannot do more than a couple of Bible studies at a time and so I delayed finishing the Hebrews study until now. To be honest, I’m not sure I’ll finish it before we start back our Tuesday morning group in early January but I’m going to try.
This week I started with Hebrews 11 and have already been taught or reminded of several things by the Holy Spirit. One of them, I want to share with you today. Hebrews 11: 4 says, ”By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”
In the MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Hebrews by John MacArthur, MacArthur says of Abel’s offering a better sacrifice than Cain:
“God had prescribed a blood sacrifice.” As we know, it is only on the basis of the blood of a perfect lamb that the Old Covenant people were made righteous and it is only on the basis of the blood of The Perfect Lamb that we, as New Covenant people, are made righteous. God had prescribed a blood sacrifice when he killed the animal in the Garden of Eden to make a covering for Adam and Eve’s nakedness or sin.
MacArthur goes on to say, ”Cain had the same knowledge of God’s requirements, but decided to worship in his own way. In the tradition of his parents, he did his own thing. In effect, he was denying his sin. Cain believed in God…..but he did not obey God. He believed in God, but he did not believe God. He thought he could approach God in whatever way he wanted, and expected Him to be impressed and satisfied. In so doing, Cain became the father of all false religions.”
Whew!! My friends that is some heavy theology!! My immediate thought was, “Oh my goodness, how do I approach God?” Oh I don’t approach God through a false religion or cult, but how often do I know what God desires, yet I do my own thing and expect God to be impressed and satisfied?
How often do I impose my legalistic attitudes on another? How often do I selfishly hoard my money at times when God expects me to be generous to those in need? How often do I fail to tell others about Jesus Christ and what He has done in my life? How often do I fail to submit to my husband and give him the respect he so richly deserves? How often do I think of myself first and others last? How often do I give to God’s kingdom work grudgingly? How often do I do what seems best to me or what seems to benefit me most and expect God to be impressed and satisfied?
God said in Deuteronomy 11: 26 – 28, “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse– the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.”
How do you approach God??
