I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices. (Matthew 9:12)It is easy to see a God who is mad at us. We do act stupidly an awful lot. You don’t have to be in jail to know that. All you have to do is look around and see what all is happening. We figure that we do so many dumb things that God is angry most of the time and mildly annoyed the rest.
But the only problem with that is God is not made like that.
When God made us, he made us to be with him. In Genesis 1, he made people to be like him so that he could have someone to talk to. In fact the Bible says that in the Garden God walked with his people, enjoying conversation and just being together.
But then, of course, people sinned and couldn’t be with God. God is holy and in our sin we are not. There had to be a way to get back together.
There was where Jesus came in. He made us perfect by his sacrifice so that we could talk to God again.
But people confuse how the talking should be. Do we just stand around and do whatever we want? Or do we have certain things that we have to do, certain sacrifices and rituals?
Those who believe in the rituals and sacrifices will do anything to give them. Those rituals and sacrifices become the most important thing in the world. If they are not done, in their minds at least, God will be angry.
Jesus said – and this was his message his whole life – that God was more interested in what was inside of you than what was outside of you. He cares more for what is in your heart than what is outside. In other words, the sacrifices mean nothing if your heart is not in it.
It would be like giving a present to someone for their birthday still in the sack with the tag attached. That shows them that you had to buy a present so here it is and shut up now about it.
When we offer sacrifices – singing, giving, doing good things – and we do it simply because we have to and God might be mad otherwise (we would really rather do something else), the sacrifice is useless. Just because you do something doesn’t mean anything. It has to be from the heart or it is nothing.
That also means that sometimes you make mistakes by doing things wrong. If you belong to Jesus, he will forgive you as long as you are trying.
And God wants us to use that same attitude to others. They mess up when they are doing things to us. But God wants us to forgive them like he forgives us.
He wants the mercy because that is how he is made. The stuff without the heart behind it is as worthless to him as it would be to us.
God loves you and wants you to love others, hard as it may be. That is the real sacrifice.
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