I desire mercy and not sacrifice

I desire mercy and not sacrifice

ByPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes

I am happy to welcome you to „Daily Word for Spiritual Edification”! God is so good to all of us! I am grateful for this opportunity to share with you the revelations He has given me. God desires you to realize what riches you have been given through God’s Word. These riches are incomparable to silver or gold. God’s Word is immortal, eternal, life-giving and wholesome, containing answers and solutions. Let’s continue talking about the power of compassion.

«As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, „Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. Now it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, „Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard that, He said to them, „Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance» (Mathew, 9:9-13).

Jesus knew all the people; He knew their thoughts that were not always good and pure; nevertheless, He was moved by compassion for them. The Pharisees saw only that Jesus was eating with sinners and thus breaking the law. He answered to them and said to go and learn what it means to“desire mercy and not sacrifice”.

This revelation was the secret of Jesus’ success in ministry. This is the same thing God wants to teach us today. God desires mercy and compassion, instead of sacrifice.

If your house is on fire and you are not a fireman, do you still try to do something to put the fire out? Or you wait around for the fire brigade to arrive? So, what if you have to wait for a long time?

«Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion» (Luke, 10: 30-33).

What motivated the two supposedly godly men in this story? What thoughts filled their minds? They were ‘full of the law’. These people thought that they were pleasing God, – since it is not right to be late for the service or rehearsal, no matter that there is a beat up, injured man lying on the ground in need of their help.

Levite passed by and the priest passed by; only one Good Samaritan who wasn’t Jewish was moved by compassion, stopped and helped.

Ask yourself these questions: «What is your motivation? How do you react when you see people in pain? Who do you want to resemble — Jesus or a Pharisee»

It is crucial to grow in compassion and mercy towards people, because that is what is pleasing to God and releases His power and grace.

Be blessed! We will continue tomorrow!

Pastor Rufus Ajiboye

Similar Posts

  • You have been created, redeemed and restored! You were born twice!

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 5 minutes
    We are not only created by God, we are also reworked or recreated by Jesus Christ. We are talking about the opportunity available to sinful people because Christ has come into this world. This is exactly what the letter to Ephesians says:«You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience; among whom we also all once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus; for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.» (Ephesians 2:1-10).

  • Organization of effective prayer life

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
    Prayer is a very important and necessary part of our spiritual life and can be compared to breathing, which is vital for our physical life. In other words, prayer is our spiritual breathing. The one who is not breathing is not alive. In the very same way, prayer is what makes us alive in spiritual sense. Thus, without prayer we are spiritually dead. This year we have talked a lot about serving God, and it is very important as well. We need to serve God! We need to serve people! But we will never be effective in our ministry to God and people without effective prayer.Remember it!

  • Find someone you can trust fully and without holding back and confess to them!

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 5 minutes
    When that happens, you will experience tremendous freedom!Freedom comes when we walk in the light; it is not just how long we pray. When we do the right things that are based on God’s Word, the Son of God sets us free and we are free indeed:«Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free» (John, 8:31-32).

  • How to enter your ministry

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
    Yesterday we started discussing how we can enter our ministry. We established that, first; we need a strong desire to serve. This desire is tied to our understanding of God’s will and the purpose of our salvation. As we talked about, ministry helps us to reveal our potential. Ministry helps us to find out about ourselves, our calling in the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth and doing the works that are pleasing to God. God has predestined for us to do particular good works. God desires for us to be fruitful and glorify Him on earth. Through our ministry God wants to fill this earth with the knowledge of Him and His Kingdom. He wants us to establish His principles in every sphere of life and win people for Him by the ministry we do on earth.

  • The example of accountability in the life of apostle Paul

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 5 minutes
    Who was Paul? He is the greatest apostle ever, one who wrote 2/3 of the New Testament. He had access to the revelations like nobody else. He got to know God more than any other apostles.«Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you». (2nd Peter 3:15).