PROGRAM SUCCESS – AUGUST 2010 PAGE 39
ARE YOU ABEL?
It seems these tough economic times have everyone
discombobulated. Will I keep my job? Where can I get a
job? How long can my business hold on? Is it time for me
to seek other options to provide for my family? How long is
this current economic crisis going to last, six months more,
another year… two years?
Are you Abel to commit to your goals until you succeed? Many
have made resolutions which over the years have proven to be
exercises of infertility. We must be careful of the tones which come
from our mouths. They become talk, talk, and only talk. Simply
saying it is not enough. Now is the time to talk less and do more.
Let your accomplishment sang the praises of the life you live.
The fact that tough times have come in the past, and that
they came to past, is no consolation to those going through
it now, many who have never seen things this bad their
entire life. To make it through, you will have to be at your
best and do things you may have never had to do before in
order to succeed. The question is, Are You Able?
Adam and Eve began the population of the world with two
sons. Abel was the second child born but the first to obey
God. The Bible says Abel was a Shepard and brought an
offering unto the Lord of the firstling of his flock and the fat
thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and his
offering. Abel knew what was expected of the Lord for his
life and he followed God’s general guidelines and specific
directions.
Are you Abel to perform your work in a manner that is
excellent and pleasing to God? The work you do in life tell
the most about the person you are. You should be your very
first critic setting a very high standard for yourself to
achieve. Then others will be baffled with brilliance by your
work.
Are you Abel to fulfill your service to the world? Your job
in life is not necessary your service in life. What you do to
make money is what you do to provide for you and your
family. Your service is what you do to make life better for
others. The world is a better place only when we
collectively work in our specific areas of service whether it
is cutting the grass of a Senior Citizen; grocery shopping for
a disable person; volunteering at a center for retardation and
deformity; tutoring children after school; sponsoring
summer educational trips; taking a group of your children
friends to dinner to teach etiquettes.
Are you Abel to endure the criticism and envy of others in response
to the success of your labors? When you do what the Lord requires
of your life, your success become a mirror to others they look in
and many will see themselves not doing what the Lord requires of
them to do. Sadly enough, instead of stepping-up, many choose to
break the mirror. Success breeds Success. It also creates strife and
jealousy, and you may find yourself rejected and ostracized.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man that did what the Lord required
of him to do. Few of us today would want to be tasked with his
burden of service nor would we want to offer his supreme sacrifice.
However, still today some choose to discredit Dr. King’s message
and accomplishment by punching holes in his character as if that
changes the fact that he was a man that allowed God to use him in
a way all of us today is blessed. Martin Luther King, Jr. indeed was
Abel.
Are you Abel to live beyond your life? People will forever
remember what you did for them and how you made them feel.
Abel is the first name mentioned in God’s Hall of Fame (Hebrews
11:4), “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God
testifying of his gifts and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”
Are you Abel? The world today more then ever before needs Abel
people. Those that rise early and work late. Those that understand
that failure is not an option. Those that see life as an Obstacle
Course; mountains to climb, troubled waters to swim across,
valleys to jump over, storms to endure.
Are you Abel? I hope so and hope you have H.O.P.E. in these
difficult and enduring times. Hope is the feeling of expectations
that what is wanted to happen will happen. One way to ensure this
is to follow H.O.P.E. the acronym: Helping Other People Endlessly.