To obey is better than sacrifice.

 We live in an age where we feel it is okay to offer sacrifices to God. I often hear people dicussing all the things they do for others or for the church or how busy they are in general. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with any of these things. However I have a basic question:

Is this what God requires?

I would suggest the answer is: not altogether, because when we sacrifice time, money or gifts we retain control. We are deciding what we will offer or sacrifice. We are doing things our way which I don't believe is entirely the way God would have it. As Frank Sinatra said "I did it my way" has become a song or a mantra of our age.

God would ask us to be obedient as a prerequisite to discipleship. As Keith Green sang "I don't want your money, I want your life." God wants us to die to self so that we may serve Him with all that we have. The resulting action may look similar or even the same as when we offer sacrifice, but the heart attitude is completely different. God is pleased when we obey HIS guidance and HIS direction, because we show our heart is for him and not just to retain personal control.

The obvious prerequisite to all this is the we hear and have some understanding of GOD in the first place!!

1 Samuel 15:22
"Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice
and to heed is better than the fat of rams."