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God made man
unique among all living creatures. We are made in God’s image (Genesis
1:17). God made us that way for His own glory (Ephesians 1:12). God made man
a free moral agent. We can obey God’s commandments or reject them (Genesis
2:16,17). We can choose to do as God wants us to, or we can rebel against
God. The first couple chose to do what the devil wanted them to do (Genesis
3:1-6). Man is rewarded to do God’s will, or punished if he chooses not to
do God’s will (Genesis 3:9-19). Cain and Abel, the first two sons of Adam
and Eve are a good example of this. They each offered a sacrifice to God
(Genesis 4). God accepted Abel’s sacrifice, but He rejected Cain’s. Why?
Nothing in Genesis gives us an answer, but we do have an answer in the New
Testament. See Hebrews 11:4. Abel offered his sacrifice “by faith.” Cain did
not. What does that teach us? In Romans 10:17 we find that faith comes by
hearing and following God’s word. God must have told Cain and Abel to offer
an animal sacrifice. Otherwise it would have been acceptable to God if they
offered the produce of Cain’s fields. Abel offered the sacrifice God told
them to make. That was acting by faith. Cain offered a sacrifice he wanted,
of his fields, but that was not what God told them to offer. So God rejected
it.
When God told Noah to build an ark He gave Noah directions how it was to be
built. Noah built the ark just as God directed him to do, and Noah saved
himself and his family (Genesis 6 and 7). Hebrews 11:7 said Noah built the
ark by faith and by God’s directions.
We can do
what God tells us, or we can do something else, because we are creatures of
choice. We can please God, or displease Him. But we have to take the
consequences, as did Cain.
Harvey
Childress, servant of Jesus Christ |
Harvey Childress |
