Oftentimes as we experience different situations in life, we sometimes ask ourselves, “why is that like that, or how come this happened? “What caused this problem to be that way?”

For instance, have you ever went to a bakery and you tasted one of the pastries and that pastry tasted kind of funny, like it was missing something, or you were thinking that if they had a little bit of ‘this’ type of an ingredient the pastry might taste a little better than it does now. So it stands to reason that you’ve noticed there was something that spoiled the taste of that pastry.

Well, I liken this to some of the things in our life, you know we partly do things these days. We have to do our jobs and then we wonder towards the latter part of our employment at a particular job, why didn’t I get a bonus? or why didn’t I get promoted, or things along that line. But the thing you have to ask yourself is, what have I sacrificed for this particular company to earn that promotion or to earn that raise? What have I done? If I haven’t done anything, or if I didn’t do my job properly then as the old saying goes, “you get what you deserve.” But in the House of Lord, it’s a little different. The Lord asks of us to have a pure heart, and when we make sacrifice to him, your sacrifice has to be incorruptible to him; not corruptible. Because we love him, we don’t want to give him something that is imperfect and corruptible. We want to give him something pure from our heart as possible, to be as perfect for us as human.

But as human nature will have it, we can’t do any shortcuts to God or give him not our best. Sometimes we give God a sanitized version of sacrifice, but not a true sacrifice. I guess the question remains, what type of sacrifice have you been giving God lately?

In these times, we are so quick to want everything so quick and fast just to get it out of the way, that we don’t give a pure sacrifice to the Lord – a sacrifice of our time, of our abilities, a sacrifice of our capabilities for Him. He has given us all these things for His glory, so why not return it back to him without any strings attached?

Read Malachi 1:7-14

⁷ Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible. ⁸ And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts. ⁹ And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the Lord of hosts. ¹⁰ Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.¹¹ For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.¹² But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.¹³ Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord.¹⁴ But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.”

Let these words of God rest with you. When you make a sacrifice to the Lord, what is your mindset? In my conclusion, make sure sacrifice doesn’t come with strings attached. Strings can be attitude, jealousy, envy, hatred, selfishness, and anger.

In Yeshua’s name, it is so.

Sermon by Pastor Tony Catron