to obey is better than sacrifice

So there's a person in my life...well, there are quite a few, but one in particular...who has been making me think a lot lately. I've grown up following a neverending list of rules because my parents required it and because I thought it glorified God. I don't regret it because following those rules has kept me safe and innocent on a lot of things I really don't want to know about or experience. But the one thing I do regret is that basing my life and my Christianity around all those rules has made me lose my passion and excitement for a life with Christ and instead see God as someone who is only pleased with those who are following the rules.

It seems like everywhere I turn in the Bible lately some variation of "obedience is better than sacrifice" shows up. Do you think God is trying to tell me something? I do. What I hear when I read those kinds of verses is that God is more pleased with those who truly love him and are trying to become more like him, even if they mess up, than those who follow the letter of the law and even make up some rules of their own, just to make sure they're doing the right thing. The Israelites would go to the temple and sacrifice the required amount and type of animal, following exactly what God told them, and then go out and live like he didn't exist until their next temple visit. To them prophets repeated over and over, "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice..." The Pharisees were so obsessed with the laws of God that they invented more and more laws, and told the Jews that if they didn't follow them, they would be unclean. In fact, they were so completely into their own laws, that they told Jesus, the God who created them and the original rules, that he was unclean and a law-breaker. I can see Jesus having problems keeping a straight face.

Anyway, I have friends who don't necessarily follow all the rules my parents think of as requirements for a life of godliness, but I know absolutely that they are trying their hardest to become more like Christ and glorify him with their lives. I feel like I've always been kind of opposite. I follow every rule, Sunday school teachers and mothers love me, but is my faith my own? Or is my religion my rules and my rigid lifestyle? I want to do things for Jesus because I can't help myself but love him when I think about how awe-inspiring and powerful he is, and how much he loves me, and what he did for me by dying so I could have eternal life. Something I'm thinking more about now is thinking about the things I do and say not in terms of "am I allowed to do this?" but rather "would this glorify God?"

And then at Two Four we've been talking about being a follower rather than a fan. A fan was defined as being someone who is enthusiastic about someone or something but it doesn't really affect their life. I want to be excited about Christ, but I want him to affect my life so much that you can't look at me without seeing Jesus. I don't want to be excited about my faith for a couple years and then have the flame die down until I'm one of those people who goes to church every Sunday and has a doormat that says, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," but doesn't really impact their world for God.

To obey is better than sacrifice...