Mom Said

Many of us have verses from the Bible or sayings that have stayed in our memory.  I have several from my Mom, but there is one in particular that I would like to share on this post.   

When I was a child, and would try to bargain my way out of doing something, Mom would say to me,
"Obedience is better then sacrifice".  What on earth did that mean?  She never explained it to me and for the longest time I didn't get it. She knew I wasn't ready to receive it fully, but she also knew it would stay in my heart until that time came.   I understood the obedience part, but the sacrifice....that didn't sound good.  I couldn't recall any thing I had sacrificed!  Later she tried to explain it to me, but as usual I wasn't accepting it.  In my time, and when my heart was ready to accept it, it was one of those light bulb moments that happened in my spirit!  I got it!  She didn't want me to clean my room if she asked me to do dishes.  She wanted the obedience of my doing what I asked.  I wasn't to trade one thing in barter for another.  The "sacrifice" of the clean room seemed to me a good way of getting out of the dishes, however she knew I wasn't being obedient, no matter what my choice of sacrifice. She never punished me, she just reminded me of that verse.   It was a Biblical lesson I never forgot.  God doesn't want us to sacrifice an animal or any thing else, His son has already paid the highest sacrifice.....he wants our obedience!

1 Samuel 15:22
 But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

This is an old Keith Green song, but it has not lost it's relevance....God's word never does.
I hope you take just a moment to listen.
Love you to all!