What does sacrifice mean to you? Does it mean giving up chocolate? Does it mean skipping a meal so your children can eat? Does it mean forgoing purchasing new clothes for yourself so you can pay your electric bill? What does offering yourself to serve others mean to you?
Sacrificing for our children comes natural to many of us. We are willing to give up our creature comforts and even our needs so they can have what they need. However, when it comes to serving others, especially people we don’t know, we become less enthusiastic.
Many Christians and non-Christians alike have been taught that we are to sacrifice for God. That is a partial truth and depends on the specific type of sacrifice. For example, God does not expect us to continue animal sacrifices. I’m sure we can all agree on that. He does expect us to give up our old ways and follow his commands, which is a form of sacrificing. Yet, he also knows that doesn’t come naturally and will require us to work on it for most, if not all, of our lives.
As we choose to serve him, we also must choose to serve others. Let’s be brutally honest about that service. Donating money to a charity is not serving others. That’s not to say donating money is a bad thing. But we cannot continue to foolishly think that donating money and having no interaction with people is serving others.
Serving others requires us to interact with them personally. It is volunteering to serve meals in a soup kitchen, handing a coat to a homeless person, or visiting people in the hospital or nursing home. It can be as simple as providing an encouraging word to someone we know who is experiencing a difficult time.
No, god does not want our “dutiful” sacrifices nor our financial or material offering made from a sense of requirement. He wants our hearts to be given to him and his love to flow through us. From that love, we readily desire to serve him by serving others, blessing them with what God has blessed us with.
I pray we all know that God does not desire our sacrifices. I pray we give God our whole heart. I pray each one of us will accept God’s love and let his love flow through us in the form of serving others. God does not want your sacrifices. Give God your heart. Accept God’s love. Let God’s love flow through you.
Psalm 40:6
Sacrifice and offering you do not desire,
but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.
Marty Pressey 