Sacrifice

The beginning of the year found me in the book of Malachi. There are many passages like these that find our Gold Standard honest Lord God telling us how it grieves Him for us to bring the sacrifice animals that are weak and sick, it's kind of like creating a religion that finds "road kill" then says, “oh here this is enough, let's hand this over to God"

God gets right to it in Malachi 1:10 

Nor will I accept an offering from your hands.  ¹¹ For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down,  My name shall be great among the Gentiles;  In every place incense shall be offered to My name,   And a pure offering;   For My name shall be great among the nations,”   Says the LORD of hosts. ¹ “But you profane it,
 In that you say, ‘ The table of the LORD^[b] is defiled;  And its fruit, its food, is contemptible.’  ¹³ You also say,  ‘ Oh, what a weariness!’ And you sneer at it,”  Says the LORD of hosts.  “ And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick;  Thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?”  Says the LORD.  ¹⁴ “ But cursed be the deceiver Who has in his flock a male,  And takes a vow,  But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished—  For I am a great King,”  Says the LORD of hosts, “ And My name is to be feared among the nations.

Where have I been part of this? Well, in pain actually, oh how I want that pain to go away, I will find any formula to get rid of the pain, do anything and go to any lengths to rid myself of that burden on my back. I have stopped behaviors and gone on food plans and given up artificial sweeteners and stopped drinking coffee ad infinitum to try and get it right and alleviate an indiscernible ache, something dissatisfying. Did it work? To a degree it did feel good, skin looked good, I had a sense of delight and accomplishment but it was short lived. I started to sound like the Pharisee in Luke 17 who spouts off what his positive inventory is and give sacrifice by comparing to others and what they are doing. What do the scriptures point us to? Sacrificing our best,

It's funny that religion teaches us to be better people, but that is not the God of the Bible, He does not desire our bad behavior as a sacrifice. He desires us! A real relationship puts the best in, what if every time my husband came home from work and I ran upstairs and shut the door with a lock? That is what Adam did in the beginning of false religion, cover it all up, put a barrier, look a little better today than yesterday when I messed up. Planning scheming what I will do the next time my behavior causes me any pain. Oh I will go on a diet tomorrow, I will never drink again, and here’s how I am going to be better next time. I will hit set up guilt as my way of stopping this stuff and that will be my God, it will never happen again!.

What I am getting at here is what it takes to have a relationship, even when we are dating or getting to know a new friend we can give our best how much more, so instead of giving our glorious splendorous God our worst and trying to become better people let's practice giving Him what we call our assets and turn to Him and like Paul we can say (Gal 2:20)"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Here is where we live in the best living sacrifice forever and ever, the spotless perfect lamb, not tomatoes we grew, not a fig leaf to cover my vulnerable areas, but Him who committed no wrong and buried our sins, resurrected from the dead and gave us victorious life. Give Him your all, at least be willing and begin to live the victorious life.

Prayer: Father, I do not know exactly what it will look like for you to take my life, even the best I have to offer, but I trust this day, that you will begin to live in me and teach me one step at a time, one day at a time to give you my everything, good and bad. Then you will be seen and your light will further your Kingdom.