Have you ever done something good… while avoiding the thing God was actually asking you to do?
King Saul was chastised by the prophet Samuel.
He had taken some sheep and oxen from their enemies during battle, directly disobeying the Lord’s commands.
Samuel told the king:
“To obey is better than sacrifice.” (1 Samuel 15:22)
I’ll be honest that this scripture has confused me for a long time.
Isn’t sacrifice good?
Doesn’t the Lord want us to sacrifice things for Him?
But I finally found some meaning in this advice when I was sacrificing a lot of sleep, effort, and many of my talents for my calling at church…
While ignoring promptings that I need to do better at teaching my family the importance of the scriptures.
What I learned is that sometimes WE want to sacrifice the things that we want to sacrifice for the Lord…
Instead of just obeying what He has already commanded or prompted us to do.
ABSOLUTELY many of the commandments require sacrifice in order to obey—
That’s really not we are talking though.
What the Lord needed to teach Saul, and each of us, is that we step into spiritually dangerous territory when we trick ourselves into thinking that simply because we are sacrificing something for a good cause (whether that’s fulfilling a calling, paying tithing, attending the temple on a schedule, or sending out a missionary) that we are being obedient to the Lord.
Those sacrifices are so good.
Just like offering an animal sacrifice was in Saul’s time.
But if we do it at the expense of obeying our first and great commandment: to love the Lord God above all else, then we are in spiritual danger of deception.
I thought I was on the right track by fulfilling my calling at church.
But I realized I was offering a sacrifice that I wanted to make (or felt I had to make) while ignoring the things that would actually bring me to a closer relationship with my Savior.
Nothing else will matter in the end if we don’t know and love the Lord with all our heart and soul.
And the best way to show and grow that love?
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Am I offering God the sacrifice I want to give, or the obedience He is asking for?
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
