The Gift that God Requires

Micah 6:6-8 - “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

We all long to come and fellowship with God. However, we need to always remember that our God is no ordinary person that we need not be careful and appropriate in the way and how we come before His presence. Yes, He told His children to come boldly unto His throne of grace and I am sure because He loves His children, He can and will welcome us. He is a gracious God!

But is it right to abuse the privileges He gives us? Does He deserve to be honored and worshiped every time we go to Him? There is no true worship without the act of giving. There has to be a gift involved when we come before the presence of God.

I want to address this in today’s devotion because many Christians do not anymore respect God as we should. Some describe God as the “old man upstairs.” I heard many calling the Lord Jesus Christ as “Brother Jess.” Oftentimes, we respect man better than we respect our God.  

Growing up in a Catholic country, I have observed how people, when they pass by a Church building, many of them do the sign of the cross. Honestly, I did not think that was appropriate. Maybe because it has developed into a form of religious tradition without any spiritual significance but just to appear religious. 

I realized later that some were doing it to give honor and appreciation to God. If those who are not truly saved can express their respect (by a simple gesture) to God they do not personally know, I would think we who are truly saved must express our love and respect to Him much more, anytime and anyplace.

Our text today gives a message on how we ought to approach and offer to our God. The Prophet Micah presents man’s different ways of approaching God:

1.Quality of offering - God deserves the best because He deserves the highest honor and respect. But to think of giving the best just because we want to be blessed is tantamount to bribing Him. If we give Him the best, it has to come first of all from the best intention, without any hint of selfish gain. 

A burnt offering and a year-old calf are both proper and quality offerings to give. We might be very particular with quality but if we think we will be favored by God better because of the quality of our offering, we are wrong. We are not doing it for GOD. It has a selfish purpose.

2.Quantity of offering - will God be honored with quantity? Is more the better? 

Thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of oil are plenty. Anybody who does not have everything will appreciate that. Since God owns everything and the best, is He looking for quantity or quality? Remember, Jesus rejected the offers of Satan at Mt. Temptation.

3.Sacrifice - we consider sacrifice as the highest form of offering. Because it speaks of man’s willingness to give a part of himself or even himself. What is wrong with sacrifice? 

Sacrificing the firstborn son, the fruit of his body is a great sacrifice. But is that what God wants? 

1 Samuel 15:22 - “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”

Samuel told Saul, “To obey is better than sacrifice.” The gift must please the recipient and not the giver. What good is the gift if the recipient does not need for it. We always say, “At least, it is the thought that counts.” Or is it what we want to give that pleases us?

When God has already expressed what He wants from us, we need to obey Him and give to Him what He asks and not just anything we want to offer Him even to the extent of sacrificing a life. 

The best offering:

The Prophet Micah describes the best way of approaching God and he also defines the greatest gift or offering to give to Him. 

1.It has to be a gift that God has declared good. The Scripture is filled with examples of things that please and honor God.

2.It has to be a gift that He asks or requires. The statement of Samuel to Saul applies to this as well, “to obey is better.”

3.It has to be a gift that God Himself has given to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. There is nothing wrong with the quality, quantity, and sacrifice when we do it in the name of Christ and for the sole purpose of glorifying God. 

Conclusion: 

Everything that Micah mentions is characteristics that are present in all the things that Christ did and gave to us:

⁃to do justly, 

⁃and to love mercy, 

⁃and to walk humbly with thy God?”

God is honored when we come to Him, He sees His Son through us. The best gift we can offer God is our Christ-likeness, our willingness to think, love, and live like The Lord Jesus Christ.