1 Samuel 15:22, New Living Translation

“But Samuel replied, ‘What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.’”

My greatest desire is to know the heart of my Lord, and if I want Him to know that and want Him to know I love Him, He said, “If you [really] love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments.” (John 14:15, Amplified Bible) Because of that, I want to know how I can understand and obey His commands. I want to know the answer to the question that Samuel asked, “What is more pleasing to the LORD?” What was the answer that was given - Obedience is better than sacrifice.

As I walk with Jesus, I keep this command in my heart – obedience is better than sacrifice. To obey is follow and trust and do what the Lord has commanded. But how about the sacrifice part? In the Old Testament, His people were instructed to make animal sacrifices for different reasons. But after the true Lamb of God - His Son, Jesus who paid the wages of the sin (death) - Our Father’s wrath was satisfied. So, should we take lightly this instruction without fully understanding what “better than sacrifice” truly means? Oh, I want to please my Lord so much and this is the matter of His heart. I prefer to dig deep into the root and know…

Thank you, Jesus, He is faithful, and He promises to be found if we seek. If we listen, He teaches, and His sheep know the Shepherd’s voice.

One day at my personal Bible study time, an inspiration came to me, “If we obey, Jesus doesn’t need to be sacrificed.” There is no payment that is needed! Sadly, there is no one can meet the standard of God, sin is in our nature. So, the Lamb must be sacrificed. The perfect Lamb is the only offering that can pay for all the debt. What kind of father would desire to sacrifice his own son for the consequences of sin from others? With that understanding, should we not come to an understanding of the heart of God, who requires us (the one who sinned) to obey, to love His Son, rather than for Him to sacrifice? Nonetheless, the Son is the only perfect Lamb to be the atonement for our sins, sinners who cannot help themselves. He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:8) His obedience and His love led to the path of sacrifice. How could the obedience of the Son not please the Father? And when we know what Jesus did to pay our debt, how could we not to love Him and follow Him and obey Him? What sacrifice is better than what He has already did through His obedience? If we follow and obey His word in order to show our love to Him, to remember and to treasure what He has done, how could that not be pleasing to the Lord?

Jesus mentioned, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching… Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.” (John 14:23-24, NIV)

Do you really love Him?