I've been thinking about...sacrifice!

I've been listening to the Old Testament and one thing I've learned is that God's all about having a personal, one-on-one with us.  He wants to be involved in our EVERYday life!!

He set out these guidelines for us to follow so that we could have a happy, abundant, fulfilling life.  But then we go and screw things up and think we can't be right until we fix it.

As if our own fix-it abilities are good enough to present to him.  HA!  AS IF!!!

Remember that verse:  It is better than to obey than to sacrifice? (1 Sam 15:22)

That's amazing to think about, really.

If we obey, then no sacrifice is needed!

Obedience is God's preference!

He doesn't NEED our sacrifice.  He doesn't want anything we possess.  He doesn't need our fasting, our penance, he doesn't need our confessions, our hail Mary's, our hours in a repentant prayer closet.  He doesn't need us to feel guilty, or condemned.

We want them.  Because they make us feel punished. And that 'punishment' gives us a false sense of cleanliness.

But what we are doing is our own form of righteousness!  Which is like "filthy rags" to Him.

Because no behavior, no religion, no crawling to mass, no meditation, no church attendance, is good enough for him to accept us.

That's why he sent his son for us.  Jesus came to be the One and Only sacrifice that God would ever deem holy enough, good enough, righteous enough.  Because Jesus was sin-less, guilt-less.  And when we invite him into our lives, to be our master then he becomes our savior.

Not only does he become our savior from hell, but he also saves us from hopelessness.  He gives us a future and a hope (Jer. 29:11).

That future and that hope not only involves physical needs (Phil 4:16) but our spiritual and deep seated emotional needs as well.

He is a loving, kind God.

And he wants our innermost desires, our innermost thoughts, our most desperate longings.  He wants them so that he can fill them, and in doing so fulfill us.

What God wants from us is our love.  If we love Him then we can trust him and if we trust him we can obey him.  And that obedience is the key to our successful future.