#DailyDevotins Without Faith You Cannot Please God
Heb. 11 4By faith Abel brought to God a better sacrifice than Cain and was declared to be righteous, when God approved his offerings. He died, but by his faith he is still speaking to us. 5By faith Enoch was taken away without dying and couldn’t be found, because God had taken him. We are assured that God was pleased with him before he was taken. 6But it is impossible to please God without faith. If you come to God, you must believe He exists and will always reward those who search for Him.
But in today’s devotion we just look at one, namely Abel. Abel’s sacrifice was better than Cain’s because it was offered in faith. We note that Abel offered up a first-born of the flock whereas Cain just offered up “some” of his crops. When you offer up a first-born you are trusting God will give you more offspring from that female animal in the future. A faithful offering for Cain would be some of the first-fruits, or a tithe of the crops. It appears he was just sacrificing out of duty, not because he trusted God. How are we living today that demonstrates faith in God’s promises in Christ Jesus? Do we face death with confidence or fear? Do we worry about tomorrow or trust God will take care of us today? In what ways is faith making itself manifest in your life today? The author says Abel’s faith still speaks to us. What is it saying? Trust God. Put Him first in everything.
Enoch was taken away without dying by God. If God has taken him it is because He is pleased with him. Enoch was in that line from Adam to Noah who were faithful to God. We don’t know what other people were faithful but we do know by the time we got to Noah. It was just Noah’s family.
We are certain Enoch pleased God. If he pleased God then it follows he had faith, as we said yesterday, without faith it is impossible to please God and everything apart from faith is sin. It doesn’t matter how many old ladies you walk across the street, how much time you devote yourself to working in a soup kitchen, or how much money you give away to the poor. If you do not have faith all those supposedly good works do not please God and indeed are considered sin by Him because they are not born of faith, they did not originate in God.
Now when he says, “If you come to God, you must believe He exists and will always reward those who search for Him,” he is not speaking of God in general but God as revealed to us in Christ Jesus (the main subject of this book). We come to God because we believe He exists but more than that we trust He rewards those who search for Him. If anyone is looking for God, they will find Him in the face of Christ Jesus. They will find God on the cross and the empty tomb. His reward is eternal life, forgiveness of sins, and the resurrection to live with God in the New Heavens and New Earth.
Heavenly Father, grant us such faith in Your Son Jesus Christ, so that all we think, say and do this day will be pleasing in Your sight. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.