Better Than Sacrifice, Yielding Our Heart to GodSample

A broken spirit and contrite heart

God accomplished the only sacrifice that matters; sacrificing His Son, Jesus Christ to open the door for us to embrace eternal life. The only thing we need to do to receive this precious gift is to humble ourselves before Him, embrace His death and resurrection for us, and live in His resurrection life!

That means that we must have a broken and contrite heart; recognizing that God is the only one who is good, and only in Him can we ever realize real Life and Joy! God said in Isaiah 57:15, “For this is what the high and exalted One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” In Psalm 51:16-17 David said, “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”

We mistakenly often believe that we must impress God with our goodness. Most religious systems in the world are trying to appease angry gods. Our relationship with the uncreated Creator of the universe is totally different. We don’t seek Him. He seeks us desiring to impart His holy and joyful life into us. The prophet Micah recognized this in 6:6-8, “With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Reflection: Isn’t it freeing to know that we don’t have to try to impress God? When we bow before Him in humility and repentance, He loves to lavish His love on us, and transform our lives!