Abel was the second son of Adam and Eve and is listed as the first among all believers in Hebrews Chapter eleven. (Abel - Pazham - sweet, ripe). Abel was a keeper of sheep and was among the chosen ones.

Satan considered Abel his adversary; Would Abel be the Seed of the woman? Satan wanted to put an end to this inescapable and imminent sentence awarded to him right there in the Garden of Eden. He entered Cain and made him commit the first grievous murder. Cain slew Abel because of envy and jealousy – the Lord accepted Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s.

Why did God have respect for Abel and his offering? Two reasons: One, he was a believer who believed that approaching God is possible only by the shedding of innocent blood – an expectation of the things to come in God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, God accepted Abel first and then his offering – Abel brought the best of his flock – “firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof”. He knew that God deserved the best, not a good enough one. Two, God also looks at the motives – why an offering is being brought: is it for thanking God or is it a mundane routine, done with a grudge, or done for selfish gains? God accepts the person first before accepting one’s offering. This is why, Jesus advises the person who brings an offering to God to reconcile with his brother first before presenting his offering. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD. – Prov 15:8.

Churches and ministers must reject offerings and donations (building funds!) from unbelievers; the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD. A pastor in my place openly announces that unbelievers should abstain from offering their money to the church. What an example to emulate! Paul advised the Corinthian believers to make a collection for the needy believers in Jerusalem in his absence. He did not want this to be done in his presence; he did not want believers to make a show of their offering to gain personal favor or recognition. (உபயம்: so and so!).

An offering is also called a sacrifice – the giver suffers a loss. What we give from our abundance is not a sacrifice as it does not cost us much or, sometimes, nothing at all. Many believers are satisfied if they drop their tithes in the offering box but care little about how the rest is being spent – a lot in sinful ways too. All the earnings of a new testament believer belong to God; one is accountable for every rupee/dollar.

Jesus submitted His best to God – His own will – all of Himself. Jesus gave His best to the Church. God, in turn, expects us to offer our best to Him. Only then will He accept our offerings, however small they might be. Again, giving must be done cheerfully! Else, it would be just another dead work. God always looks at what we hold back for ourselves rather than what we offer. The old lady who dropped two mites into the offering box gave more than anybody else – she gave all she had, and Jesus commended this sacrifice. A tithe (10%) to God and the rest for “self” is not the New Testament way of life. Everything, including the believer’s body, is His.

The sacrifice of praise also falls in this category – precious time is sacrificed for a time of praise; our health and strength are spent on glorifying God with our thought, word, and deed, even at times when we are weak. It might require us to lose something material-wise, but it is meant to be so. A believer might suffer a loss of an overtime earning, a team outing, a family get-together, or even sleep and rest but since this is done as a sacrifice, God will accept us first, because of the attitude and then our sacrifice. A routine praise session might turn out to be a stale offering to God and a dead work!

Abel is a righteous man because he trusted in God’s righteousness.

Abel is also recognized as the first martyr and his blood was seeking revenge his murderer from God. So are the souls of them that were slain for the word of God in OT times, and for the testimony which they held – Rev 6:9. But, scriptures say that the blood of Jesus Christ was seeking forgiveness from God of His murderers. His blood was speaking better things than the blood of Abel. (Heb 12:24). What love!