Most Christians will agree that, as Samuel says to to the disobedient yet indignant Saul in 1 Samuel 15, "obedience is better than sacrifice." God wants our heart devotion, rather than our religious devotion. But how often, when faced with a spiritual setback, or when facing a particularly difficult God-induced/allowed trial, do we forget this principle? How often do we think like this? This is an expert from ancient Babylonian wisdom literature called Counsels of Wisdom. It is obviously wrong and not in tune with the heart of God, but how often do we act like this is true?
Every day worship your god.
Sacrifice and Benediction are the proper accompaniment of incense.
Present your free-will offering to your god,
For this is proper toward the gods.
Prayer, supplication and prostration
Offer him daily, and you will get your reward.
Then you will have full communion with your god.
In your wisdom study the tablet
Reverence begets favor;
Sacrifice prolongs life,
Prayer atones for guilt.
We sin. We fall short of what we know we're supposed to do. We feel guilt, and so we think something along the lines of, "Well I need to go and pray because I've offended God. I need to pray so that I can be forgiven." Or we think that we need to do something good in order to win back God's favor.
I assure you, God could care less about all this. He wants the heart. He wants the love of the people He died for. He doesn't want our sacrifice, our prayer to please Him or our good works. He wants...us.
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