Obedience is better than Sacrifice

DoveTree

We might think of obedience as saying "Yes Lord, I will" but obedience is actually DOING what no one gives you credit for. Mathew 6:1 “ Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” As much as going to intercession to intercede for nations is good, it is a sacrifice. but it is obedience to discipline my attitude and ensure that I allow God's spirit to lead me in prayer every single time. It could also be a sacrifice to give to a charity organisation but could be obedience to give R50 to that kid on the street where no one will notice or appluad you. Personally, creating this blog has been quite a sacrifice on it's own but obedience is writing that which God needs His people to hear and not what appeals to the audience, while putting that to practical use in my day to day living. We tend to do things which we think are right whilst God didn't command us to do. The little things God command us to do we somehow discard, choosing to make huge unnecessary sacrifices. 1 Samuel 15 [22]But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams." Our huge or even tiny sacrifices are all in vain if they aren't in line with obeying the command of God. Our mindset has been fixed into thinking that we are placed here to work for God, I beg to differ. My life mantra is, "I'm not working for Him but I'm doing His work" Like I don't wake up with the mentality and enthusiasm that says, "What can I do for God" but rather I look for an instruction from Him on what to do next, because at the end of the day our greatest works are like filthy rags. Francis Chan gave us the literal interpretation of “filthy rags” in this verse on his book (Crazy love) as menstrual garments. So basically, the charity, us being good people, the smiles, the giving, in the eyes of God they're are all like menstruation cloth. God isn't looking for people who will sacrifice for Him but people who will obey Him. "We think we're here just so God can give us tools to water our grass but He'll give us tools to water His grass" -Unknown None of this is about us and until we can fix our minds on the fact that we are not in control and we aren't doing a single thing for God but simply obeying Him, the frustration of not seeing the results for what we put in won't exist and each morning we will wake up to search for an instruction from the Lord. Not to forget one most vital tool for our salvation, Love 💕. If obedience is be tea than love is definitely sugar they work hand in hand, one cannot function without the other. John 14:15 “ If you love me, Obey my commandments.” The true reflection of God’s love is not just doing right but it’s also obeying his commands such as “Love your neighbour as you love yourself.” To love God is to be obedient to his word. And that is to stay away from sinful nature because God hates sin. I won't lie and say all of this is any easy but the life of faith requires us to daily lay ourselves aside for that golden statement from God, "Well done my good and faithful servant.”