Sacrifice

In the Old Testament, under the Mosaical Dispensation,  the Israelites practiced the Levitical system of sacrifices wherein they would offer up bulls and goats and sheep.  They began to believe that God desired and even needed on some level those animal sacrifices on a personal level.

However those who thought that way completely missed the point of the sacrifices - they were not for God at all, the need for them lay within the individual.  As for God, he was clear in saying, "If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?" (Ps 50:12-13).

The sacrificial system represented man's need for redemption, a price paid to free mankind from the grip of sin and death, a price that would ultimately be paid by his Son, Jesus Christ, the true Paschal Lamb, as the Father "gave up his one and only Son that whoever believes on him would not perish but have everlasting life" (Jn 3:16).

God had no interest in their animal sacrifices - what he desires is so completely other than that: You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise" (Ps 51:16-17).  What God desired was man's heart.  And, that desire has not changed.

Today, man tends to think that God's affection can be purchased by church attendance, dropping money in the collection plate, saying prayers, giving up something you desire, et. al.  We even try to make bargains with God saying, "God, if you'll do so and so, I'll give up such and such" or "I'll start dong this or that."

The simple truth is that God has never been interested in what you might give or give up.  God ha always and only been interested in you.  When your child drew that stick figure crayon masterpiece you put on your fridge, was the drawing really that valuable?  No, it was the offering of the child's heart in the drawing that drew you to it.  The drawing, in and of itself, was pitiful.  But the heart behind the drawing was priceless.

So, here it is.  This is what God want you to know about the value of what we do: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love" (Gal 5:6).  Jus' Say'n.