"GOD SACRIFICED HIMSELF, WHAT DO YOU SACRIFICE?"

(6) With what shall I come before the LORD,
And bow myself before the High
God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt
offerings,
With calves a year old?
(7) Will the LORD be pleased with
thousands of rams,
Ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
The fruit of my body for the sin of
my soul?
(8) He has shown you, O man, what is
good;
And what does the LORD require of
you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
(9) The Lord's voice cries to the city--
Wisdom shall see your Name
(Micah 6:6-9 NKJV)

While the above passage sounds beautiful, indulge me and let me restate it according to The Message Bible.

(6-7) How can I stand up before God and show proper respect to the High God? Should I bring an armload of offerings topped off with yearling calves? Would God be impressed with thousands of rams, with buckets and barrels of olive oil? Would he be moved if I sacrificed my firstborn child, my precious baby, to cancel my sin?

(8) But he's already made it plan how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It's quite simple:
Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don't take yourself too seriously--take God seriously.

(9) Attention! God calls out to the city! If you know what's good for you, you'll listen.
(Micah 6:6-9 The Message)

In the Old Testament, there were MANY sacrifices offered to the Lord. I looked them up but there are too many to include in this post. There were atonement sacrifices, peace sacrifices and many others. There were many different types of sacrifices using many different animals depending on what the sacrifice was for. There were many different "rules for making that sacrifice.

I am so glad that God sacrificed His Son to wash my sins away. I don't have to worry about remembering all of the different specifications. This poor little brain can't remember what I had for breakfast this morning.

The types of sacrifices that we are to give God today, are of ourselves. Our total devotion, our worship, our praise.Hebrews 13:15 states "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name".

We are to sacrifice our time for such things as reading His Word, praying, spending time with Him. Matthew 25:40-- And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. We are to sacrifice in the way of our tithes. God even says in His Word that if we neglect tithing to Him we are robbing Him. Malachi 3:8 says "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings".

There are many other ways to sacrifice to God, but I don't thing the specifications are as rigid as they were before, because Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice.

What God wants from us more than anything is to live a faithful life, and spend time with Him in prayer and His Word DAILY. We must walk humbly. As humans we are prideful. we need to keep that pride in check and realize that we cannot do anything on our own. We need God with us at ALL TIMES. We have to remember that we all have fallen short of the glory of God. We all have faults and shortcomings. God has a lot to teach us. We can definitely learn from Him.

We must remember we cannot please God without Faith. We must also show kindness and mercy. If we will get a picture of Jesus in our mind, and remember how he interacted with people, that is the way we are supposed to "strive" to be. We need to consciously treat others gently, kindly, and forgive those who hurt us. Keep in mind at ALL TIMES that God cannot forgive those who will not forgive others. Unforgiveness is a sin, and no sin is allowed in heaven.

We must also treat others fairly. To be respectful to others and act honorably. God speaks of integrity and says that A GOOD name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold. (Proverbs 22:1) and A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth. (Ecclesiastes 7:1). The way to keep a good name is to treat people as stated earlier. We do this because they were made by God.

When we do as God says and treat people the way we should, it pleases Him, and when we please Him it makes us happier so we are better people ourselves as well as becoming closer to God, and developing a deeper relationship with Him. Draw nigh to Him and He will draw nigh to us.

As an afterthought, I wonder if God put such an emphasis on tithing because He knew that money would be so near and dear to us that we would have a hard time letting go of even 10 percent of it. Of course I know in Biblical times tithing was pretty much animals, or crops anything of increase.

Although, He also sees from End to the Beginning. A thought to ponder.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!