Spiritual Sacrifices

The little boy motioned to me to bend down closer so that he could speak into my ear.

Before then, the only whole sentences I’d heard him utter were, “Have to go bathroom,” and “Is it time to eat yet?”

He had a long tale to tell that brought waves of grief as I listened. He didn’t use the words alcoholic, abuse, terror, or nightmare, but his story held all of them.

As I listened, I prayed, “The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring.”

The boy and I were both drowning in the roaring floods of the evil that had befallen him.

As soon as his tale was done, I knelt. I hugged him. I asked if I could pray.

“Why do you think I told you?” he said. That was humbling. We prayed: “Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty! Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits Your house, O Lord, forevermore.”

Because they are often so short, my prayers sometimes feel shallow. Do I pray wide enough? Deep enough? Long enough to encompass the flood of need surrounding me? When this little boy came asking me to pray, I realized that I should stop wondering if my prayers are enough. 

Only God is enough. 

The syntax and structure of my cry for help doesn’t matter as long as I am calling on the only true source of Help, the only One who walks on water. 

Peter reminded the Christians of his day, “As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

What spiritual sacrifices are we supposed to offer?

The physical sacrifices- the lambs, the goats, the cattle- had to be spotless and without blemish. 

My spiritual sacrifices- the prayers, the praise, the worship- never are spotless or without blemish. Perhaps that is why the writer to the Hebrews said, “Through Him then let us offer up [these spiritual sacrifices]…” It can’t be through ourselves.

Peter said, “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

Because He has ransomed us with His perfect blood, we can offer imperfect sacrifices of praise and live holy lives, empowered by Him to survive evil, confront evil, battle against evil, and have victory over evil. 

Because He is good, we can leave behind the futile ways of our fathers, and sing with the Psalmist, “Holiness befits Your house, O Lord.”

The little boy cried out to the God who saves instead of to his father’s idol. That is the spiritual sacrifice the Lord is seeking.