Acorn Build Up: Acceptable Sacrifice

Acceptable Sacrifice

Psalm 51:15-17 (NRSV)
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

We work so hard for the Lord. We fill our calendars with efforts to please Him. We pour our lives into our labor to earn His smile. Yet, these are not the sacrifices that please our God.

For that matter, I often get so involved in my service to the Lord that my service takes center stage. Our ministry is not the sacrifice that pleases our God.

No, the acceptable sacrifice is brokenness and contrition.

Contrition is defined as sorrow for and detestation of sin with a true purpose of amendment, arising from a love of God for his own perfections.

What pleases God is our genuine praise.

Praise the LORD, O my soul... (Psalm 103:1)