Obedience is Better
Than Sacrifice

     The Bible says that to obey is better than sacrifice (1 Sam. 15:22). Now, in church when it is time to take the offering, we often say, "Just give what the Lord tells you to give." Yet, just doing what God tells you may lack excitement. So we sacrifice and give beyond what the Lord requires to feel an extra lift. Yet the Scripture says that obedience is more important than sacrifice.
     In my almost seventy years as an evangelist and pastor, I have never asked any congregation to give sacrificially. Why? Because there is somethign better than sacrifice. If God told you obedience is better than sacrifice, and then told you to give five, we all know you are wrong. if you five fifteen, do you know you are just as wrong?
     Giving less and giving more are both acts of disobedience. God's people have to give out of obedience, not out of sacrifice.