Worthless Offerings
What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is far better than offerings.
1 Samuel 15:22 NEW LIVING TRANSLATION
Many times in prayer, I have asked God for several things. But, one day I started asking, if I made Him proud. Which lead to the thought of what could possibly make God happy or proud…?
Over the years, I unconsciously tried many things. I preached, taught, performed musical pieces, evangelized, and cut peoples’ grass to name a few. All of which I seemed to either tire of or received very little thanks. I think that maybe I had been submitting burnt offerings and sacrifices the whole time. I wanted to do things to please God instead of just being pleasing, that is, knowing I am His because of His son.
I took the time to look up some synonyms for obedience, that mysterious stuff that 1 Samuel 15:22 says pleases God. I found that my being obedient to God consists of submission, dutiful respect, agreement and conformity. These things are more about “being” the likeness of and indeed the action of serving.
I am still teaching, cutting grass and doing other small things. But now, I have an updated and reworked agenda for these actions. My purpose now is to serve God in the practices. I now seek to be like Him, in the serving. I no longer serve others to gain a good reputation and good standing with God. I serve God and others out of the love that He pours into me by His Holy Spirit.
Can a person tell that you are a son or daughter of God, because you are just like Him?
I agree with you, Eric. It is our human nature to want to ''do'' something to get God's approval
ReplyDeleteand the approval of others, but we are so silly sometimes, because we think that we really CAN
do enough to redeem ourselves. The price has already been paid.
If we just 'believe in' Him. we are probably working like the dickens to do what we think we must...
it seems HE just asks us to BELIEVE Him...that is what 'pleases' HIM
He does the work through is...
Blessings!