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MARCH 29, 2011
RIGHT AND JUST
To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. (Proverbs 21:3, NIV)
What shall we make of ceremony?
Every year, when the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup, or the Solheim Cup, shape up, you can count on ceremony. A lot of
funny blazers and formal gatherings. Speeches from captains, handshakes from officials, “etc., etc., etc.,” (as one noted, if fictional, king fast-forwarded through such falderal!).
Here’s what you and I want: golf. We want to see the greatest players in the world hit the shots that count. We
want spirited fans, spirited players, and spirited competition. These players don’t gather to show off their coiffures and cashmere; they meet to play it out, win or lose. The golf is the thing.
More than once in Scripture, we encounter God’s priorities through His prophets and wisdom givers. Form follows
function. To obey is better than sacrifice.
How can this be? After all, the sacrifices of old (and that is what we are speaking of here: ceremonial
sacrifice as opposed to the sacrifices one might make to go to the cross, say) were part of the Law—you know, the list of regulations that God gave His people to obey. Aren’t sacrifice and obedience, then, one and the same?
In a way, yes. God gave His people firm outlines for worship. Priests died for the misapplication of incense or the
misappropriation of meat sacrificed to God. Worship is serious business.
And yet Samuel, Solomon, Isaiah, and Jeremiah all confirmed it. Ceremony only goes a little way down the path to our
Father’s deepest desire for us. How, God asks, are you doing with the nitty-gritty? Are you hiding your disobedient heart behind your pet religious practice? Jesus confirmed the same. The Father,
Jesus said, is seeking those who worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23). The contrite man, convicted of his sin, gains access to God’s justification ahead of the man who sees his righteousness
as greater than that of his neighbors (Luke 18:9-14).
The Good Samaritan stands out above perhaps every other character Jesus ever cast in one of His parables. There is a
reason for this. The Samaritan, who did not have all his ceremonial ducks in a row as far as the Law was concerned, did have this: heart and hands to do what was right and just. Jesus painted a picture
of Solomon’s proverb. It’s a picture of who we really need to be.
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Jeff Hopper
March 29, 2011
Copyright 2011 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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