God's Goal for Humanity

Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit. Yet, God desires obedience rather than sacrifice. Therefore,  God doesn't want us to sin & be broken.

Daniel Roberts

Sacrifices to God

According to Psalm 51:17, the elements that God must have in a sacrifice are brokenness and contrition. Without those elements, a sacrifice is worthless and offered in vain. God does not like it. But why does God require that our hearts be broken when offering sacrifice?

A sacrifice would not be needed if man were perfect. Sacrifice is the end result of failure, pure & simple. We realize that we are incomplete & destined for ruin if God's grace were ever torn away from us. Our failures are shameful to think of, our sin is detestable. If we don't realize this, then we are missing the entire point of sacrifice. Sacrifices are not good things we do to balance out the bad things--this is not Christian Karma. Sacrifice draws attention to our deficiency & ultimate doom.

It is no wonder that God does not delight in sacrifice.

Better than Sacrifice

In 1 Samuel 15:22 God shares a secret with Saul, Israel & (ultimately) the world: God would rather move away from the whole sacrifice thing. But there's only one way to do that--obey God every time.

When we obey, we keep ourselves from sin. When we keep ourselves from sin, there is nothing to remember with a sacrifice. There is no brokenness or contrition, there is only open, free fellowship. While this goal is immediately negated by real-world practicalities, the fact remains that this is God's goal for humanity.

God does not want man to remain a broken creature. He does not want us to hide in our shame like we have been doing since Eden. He wants us to stand before Him boldly & openly, with nothing to be ashamed of.

And He created a way to accomplish that.

More Reading

A Brighter Tomorrow
Taking Hold of Eternal Life
Hope to Carry on