What Gift Will You Give To God?
Because some people thought that they could offer a gift of sacrifice to him, God said, “The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? 13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. (Isaiah 1:11-13) This shows that God is not pleased by the offering of sacrifices.
Some people think that God would be pleased if they attend church regularly or offer a feast for him. To them God said, “Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. 14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.” (Isaiah 1:13-14) So then, what kind of gift would you give to please God?
Faith
One of God's favorite gifts from people is faith. The writer of Hebrews writes that God is pleased with those who believe in him. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) Why does God love having faith him? The reason is that not believing him would be equivalent to accusing him of lying. In that case, you are implying that everything he has said and promised are lies. Even among humans, trust is very important thing. If there is doubt, relationships can be disastrous. Lack of faith is dishonoring. If you do not trust a person, you are essentially of opinion that that person is not trustworthy, worthless, and a liar.
Instead of trusting the God who does not tell lies, who does things as he says he would do, with whom anything is possible, human beings tend to put their trust in a man who tell lies, who does not do as he says he would, who cannot even carry out what he says he would do. Man tends to trust the promises made by a fellow man rather than the promises of God. Therefore, John said, If the testimony of man is to be believed; There is reason to believe God's testimony. (1 John 5:9)
You can see how much God put value on trusting upon him: When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help: “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” 8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.” (Matthew 8:5-13)
In the above incident, Jesus was very surprised and impressed with the commander. In other words, the commander gave the gift of faith to Jesus. In fact, Christ wants his people, Israel, to believe in him like this centurion. However, he was surprised to see that his own people did not believe, but only foreigners. Therefore, the more you put your trust (believe) in God, the more God is pleased. Would you be willing to give God such a gift that he likes?
Love
Another gift that God likes is loving Him with all your heart. God said through Moses, “ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5) During the days of Jesus, we see that God liked having the love of God. Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22:37)
Why does God want man to love him like that? It is because he himself loves man very much. We can see how much God loves man. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." (John 3:16b). “Again, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, showing how much God loves us.” (Romans 5:8). And God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. (Ephesians 2:4-5) This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)
Why does God love man like that? It is because he created him. People also love their own children. People put value on the painting they’ve made, even though theirs may not be as beautiful as those of professional artists.
Because he loves man with all his heart and soul, God longs to be loved with all man’s understanding and strength. But humans do not love God. They love the world more than God. Therefore, man has been warned: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.” (1 John 2:15). The Lord Jesus first warned the church of Ephesus whose love toward God was decreasing: “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” (Revelation 2:4-5).
How would then one love God? If you love God, you will want to read His Word; put value in it; would want to know more; and would love to read what he writes. Therefore, if you love God, you want to read the Bible. There will be a desire to know of what it says. If you love God, you will want to talk to him. Human beings tend to want to talk more with their loved ones. One would not think talking with a lover is tiring. In the same way, if you love God, you would talk to him a lot. He may not talk back, but he is listening. He could communicate with you either verbally or by talking to you heart. Hannah prayed to God without making a sound, just moving her mouth (1 Kings 1:12-15).
One sign of loving God is loving people. The Bible says, "Someone said, If he says he loves God and hates his brother, He is a liar. If he does not love his brother whom he sees, how can you love God whom you have not seen? We have received from Christ the commandment that he who loves God must love his brother." (1 John 4:20-21)
Why should you love people? Because God loves people, we needs to love the people God loves. If you love someone, you need to extend your love toward his or her parents, brothers, sisters and friends. In the same way, if you love God, you must love the people he loves.
Not everyone is loveable. There are people who are stingy, some are cunning, others, talkative; There are people who take advantage of others; Some who look down on others. As such, people are not lovable. How can you love such a people? Yes, not everyone is lovable. However, God loves all such people. The person may not only be unlovable, but sometimes, he may be hostile toward Him. But God loves them nonetheless.
Why does God love people?
The reason why God loves people is because he created them. An immature child may not be lovely to others, but the parents love him very much. Parents are compassionate of him because he is different from other children. “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. 15 The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; 16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. (Psalm 103:13-16) God loves and has compassion on man because in God's eyes, man is but dust, and he knows that the days of man are as short as grass.
If you see people as God sees them, everyone is pitiful. The very rich are like a flower that blooms to the fullest and lasts only a short time. Very violent people can die at any time and can be disabled any time. Those who boast too much last only for a while. Therefore, everyone is pitiful. If you see a person as God sees him, there is no person to be mad at, no man to be jealous about, and no one who is annoying. Man is very pitiful.
In addition, the reason we should love others is because people are Satan's servants who are bound by him. Because they are servants of Satan, they only do what Satan tells them to do, and they behave like Satan. “When (Jesus) arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29 “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” (Matthew 8:28-29). The reason why those two people were so violent was because they were possessed by demons. Christ did not just ignore them. When the demon was driven out of them, they became civilized like the others.
For that reason, when some people are acting wickedly, it may not be that they are possessed by demons, but we know from Paul's letter that they are under the influence of demons. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.” (Ephesians 2:1-3)
According to the above verses, man is ruled by Satan, who is the ruler of the air. Therefore, man acts like Satan. For that reason, some people are cruel and hateful. However, if man is freed from satan’s bondage, he will become normal and lovable. God sees man like that and has pity on him. If you as a believer see people as God sees, you will love them, will have patient about them. Therefore, let us see everything as God sees.
If you love people like that, you will love God. Then, God will be pleased. God does not want worldly goods from us except love. Let's give him the love he wants.
Listening
Another gift that God likes very much is listening to him or being obedience. Being obedience means following His will. The Bible shows that obedience is more pleasing to God than all kinds of burnt offerings.
God asked King Saul to fight the Amalekites. “ This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” (1 Kings 15:2-3). However, King Saul did not listen to all of God's words, but only to half. Saul and his people spared Agag, along with sheep and cattle and fat lamb. They spared all the good things and did not completely destroy them. They destroyed only things that were useless and ugly. (1 Kings 15:9).
Why didn't King Saul listen to God? It is because of his strong will. To Saul Samuel said: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” (1 Samuel 15:22-23)
Adam and Eve's disobedience to God's words caused human to sin. The Bible says,"For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous."(Romans 5:19).
Adam's disobedience to God has caused the suffering of all mankind; man becoming a sinner; man becoming the enemy of God; death and the need to go to hell after death; and all the sicknesses and diseases. For that reason, we can know how much God hates about not listening to his words.
Therefore, while he was alive in this world, Jesus never wavered from God's words. He himself said, “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. (John 5:19). Again he said, “By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” (John 5:30) He said that he did all the things that the Father asked him to do. “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.” (John 17:4). He himself said that Christ's best food was doing his Father's work. ““My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” (John 4:34). Christ did not come to this world to do what he wanted to do. He only did the work that his father asked him to do. Therefore, through him, people are justified.
People do not always listen to God's words, but God is pleased if they listen as much as they can. We have learned from above that listening is preferred even over sacrifice. So, let's give God the gift of listening.
