Sacrifice that Pleases God

Chuckle: "Every building in the town was suddenly infested with squirrels. Only the church found a solution. They made them members and then only saw them at Christmas and Easter."

Quote: "As the nightingale instinctively flees from the sound of the hawk, so does the beauty of humility vanish in the presence of pride." --William Arthur Ward

"The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise" (Psalm 51:17 NLT).

Many people think the way to please God is to give Him something (offering) or do something for Him (good deeds). In other words we try to please God by what we do -- by being a good person. From a human perspective this makes perfect sense. We are so used to earning our way in this world by pleasing the boss that we think we should use the same approach with God. We try to be good enough to please God by sacrificing our money, our time, and our abilities, etc.

In verse 16, the psalmist puts doing things for God in perspective. "You (God) would not be pleased with sacrifices, or I would bring them. If I brought a burnt offering, you would not accept it." King David knew that giving things to God or doing things for Him are not what pleases God. If our heart is not right, nothing we can do will be received favorably by our Lord. But, if we come to Him with a sincere repentant attitude and a broken spirit asking forgiveness of our sins, we will please God. Then our offerings and good works will be acceptable.

What does it mean to come to God with a broken spirit and a broken and repentant heart? To have this attitude, we must see ourselves as God sees us. If we have never prayed to receive Christ as Savior and Lord, we are sinners in desperate need of a Savior and forgiveness. If we know Christ as Savior, we are sinners saved by God's grace through faith, but still in need of God's forgiveness and cleansing each time we sin. We know we are helpless to make ourselves righteous before God, and we realize we must allow Him to transform our hearts and minds and make us new creations (2 Cor. 5:17).

If we allow it, pride will keep us from humbling ourselves before God in repentance. We will have a hard time thinking of ourselves as being sinful enough to come to God with such remorse that our hearts are crushed and broken. But that's precisely the attitude that pleases God. Once our hearts are right, then our sacrifices of offerings and actions will also be pleasing to God.

 

Love, Jerry & Dotse