MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE

When I start feeling smug about how well I serve the Lord, or how much I give to Him, God is quick to remind me that my sacrifices can be repulsive to Him, if I only made them to be noticed.  Have you ever chosen to give up something (time, effort, money) for God - and no one else noticed?  Did that bother you?  If it did, was the sacrifice really for God, or was it for your own ego?


Max Lucado often has a way of driving home a truth.  Try this one on for size:

“Lord,” I said, “I want to be your man, not my own.
So to you I give my money, my car—even my home.”
Then, smug and content, I relaxed with a smile
And whispered to God, “I bet it’s been a while
Since anyone has given so much—so freely?”
His answer surprised me. He replied, “Not really.
“Not a day has gone by since the beginning of time,
That someone hasn’t offered meager nickels and dimes,
Golden altars and crosses, contributions and penance,
Stone monuments and steeples; but why not repentance?
“The money, the statues, the cathedrals you’ve built,
Do you really think I need your offerings of guilt?
What good is money that’s meant only to salve
The hurting conscience that so many of you have?
“Your lips know no prayers. Your eyes, no compassion.
But you will go to church (when churchgoing’s in fashion).
“Just give me a tear—a heart ready to mold.
And I’ll give you a mission, a message so bold—
That a fire will be stirred where there was only death,
And your heart will be flamed by my life and my breath.”
I stuck my hands in my pockets and kicked at the dirt.
It’s tough to be corrected (I guess my feelings were hurt).
But it was worth the struggle to realize the thought
That the Cross isn’t for sale and Christ’s blood 
can’t be bought.

Max Lucado, On the Anvil (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1985), 20–22.