Daily Reading: Matthew 12
And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. (Matthew 12.7)
Devotional Thought: The prophet Samuel rebuked a defiant King Saul: “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15.22). In today’s chapter, there is a similar warning from Jesus: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” quoting from another Old Testament source (Hosea 6.6).
In these two passages – 1 Samuel 15 and Matthew 12 – sacrifice refers to the whole system of religious observations of the Jewish people. Notice that Samuel and Jesus were not condemning those religious observations, they merely asserted that there were things more important than ritualistic worship; two things in particular: obedience and mercy.
Obedience. There are many directions we could go with this topic, but let me just point out one thing that should serve as an example of obedience over sacrifice: Scripture reading. All of us know the importance of reading scripture. I am constantly encouraging people to regularly observe this discipline. But religiously reading the scripture without obeying it is sacrifice without obedience! I don’t care how many chapters of the Bible I read per day, if I’m not obeying what it says, then it is merely a religious ritual.
Mercy. At the last church where I pastored, there were boxes in the back of the sanctuary for people to put offerings to help people financially in our church and community. We used to encourage everyone to put in $1 each Sunday as they left worship. That was a good thing, and we helped many people. But, even if put in $1000 each Sunday, yet had a bad attitude toward the poor, I would still be missing the more important thing: mercy.
Two things: mercy and obedience. Let us not neglect these things that God desires even more than our worship.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you showed me mercy when I was disobedient. Help me to obey you and show mercy to others. Amen.
Psalm of the Day: Psalm 88:13-18
13 But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 O LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?
15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.
16 Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me.
17 They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together.
18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.
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