When we look at the story of Abel from Genesis 4, we can see what it looks like to worship by faith. Worship is the recognition of God for who He is, what He has done, and what we are trusting Him to do in the future.

Sometimes worship is private meditation. Other times, it can be a celebration. But it is always done in recognition that He alone deserves our worship because He is the only true God. Worship was established in the early chapters of Genesis as we see Abel bringing “the firstlings of his flock” to offer to God. He is viewed as a righteous man in Hebrews 11 because he gave God the best that he had. He gave to God first, honoring God’s person and position.

But we see that he ran into a crisis in his life. He was killed by his brother, Cain. This is a reminder that you can be a genuine worshiper of the true God and still experience the resistance of a Cain on this earth. You can give God the recognition He deserves, but that will not immunize you from the troubles of life.

You can give God the recognition He deserves, but that will not immunize you from the troubles of life.

But Abel’s death is not the end of his story. We learn from Hebrews 11:4 that through faith, “he still speaks.” His actions as a worshiper of God still speak to us today. Oh, that’s some good news! Can you see what that means? The end of our earthly life does not mean the end of our influence as one who lived as a worshiper of God. 

When you worship, you’re not wasting your time. You’re upgrading your communication. In worship we sing, we pray, we praise, we listen to God. We aren’t like Cain, who gave God the leftovers. Cain went through the motions of worship but didn’t have a worshiping heart. Therefore, he lived a wandering life—a life of emptiness and without any meaningful purpose.

When you worship, you’re not wasting your time. You’re upgrading your communication.

If you want meaning in your life, then you are going to have to learn to worship by faith. That means that you aren’t just seeking after feelings when you worship. You don’t have to feel like you want to praise Him in order to lift up your voice in worship. Truth be told, we all sometimes don’t feel much emotion in our worship. That’s okay. We do it because we need to do it. We need to worship . . . and, Scripture tells us, God seeks worshipers.

He is looking for people who offer Him their attitudes and actions in praise to His holy, great, and awesome name. The more you learn about Him, the more you recognize how worthy He is to receive your worship. His attributes, His character, His actions in history, and what He is doing right now—all of these are worthy of praise. If you look closely at your own life, you will see all that He has done. You shouldn’t need to be forced to get up on Sunday and go to corporate worship. Why? Because He deserves to be celebrated. 

Worshiping by faith is an investment of your time, not merely a spending of it.

So, let’s worship by faith. Don’t make your feelings the engine. Keep them as the caboose. They’re still attached to the train but they don’t run the show. Worshiping by faith is an investment of your time, not merely a spending of it. And good investments always pay good dividends.

Check out more from Dr. Tony Evans @tonyevans.org