What Is Required?
"What offering should I bring when
I bow down to worship the LORD God Most High? Should I try to please him by
sacrificing calves a year old? Will thousands of sheep or rivers of olive
oil make God satisfied with me? Should I sacrifice to the LORD my first-born
child as payment for my terrible sins? The LORD God has told us what is
right and what he demands: "See that justice is done, let mercy be your first
concern, and humbly obey your God." (Micah 6:6-8 CEV) [1]
God set up a system of sacrifices for His people. The only problem is that the
people started to go through the motions and bring the sacrifices thinking that
they would get them to heaven while they were living just as they wanted the
rest of the time. Micah asked how many animals or gallons of oil had to be
sacrificed before they were clean. They had to continually bring the sacrifices
because there was no way to be forgiven once and for all. Micah asked if
sacrificing a baby would do it. No regular human sacrifice could cleanse them
from sin. One divine human did give His life for the sin of the world. That was
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He came to earth, lived a totally human, totally
divine life and gave His life for each of us. All we have to do is repent of our
sin and surrender our lives to Jesus Christ.
Micah said that no sacrifice meant anything. It was what is in the heart that
mattered. He said the people were to treat people justly and not show
partiality. They were to show mercy to those who needed mercy. They were to obey
God. In other words, they were to love God with all their hearts, souls and
minds and their neighbors as themselves. Then they would live as they should.
This is what God required of them rather than all the vain sacrifices.
The apostle Paul wrote about these things in a different way: "If I gave
everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about
it; but if I didn't love others, I would be of no value whatsoever. Love
is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.
Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record
of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices
whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is
always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." (1 Corinthians
13:3-7 NLT) [2]
If we belong to Jesus Christ then we will have His love inside of us. We will
want to do the things He wants us to do because of that love and not to work our
way into heaven. Do what is required today which is to give your life to Jesus
Christ.
By Dean W. Masters
dwmasters@earthlink.net
Owner of the Masters List:
http://shaned.net/mailman/listinfo/masterslist_shaned.net
Unedited redistribution approved.
[1] None. Contemporary English
Version? (electronic ed.). ,: :
[2] Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997. Tyndale House: Wheaton, Ill.