The statement “obedience is better than sacrifice” is true, for some of us it is hard to understand. I wish to shed light on this, hopefully it makes sense.
In the bible it says this…
22 And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
You see, this is in 1 Samuel chapter 15. In this chapter it is talking about the time that Saul was sent to go destroy the Amalekites, cattle and all. Saul did not do what was commanded of him, he was afraid of the people. So he let the people keep the cattle to use as sacrifices unto God and brought the King back alive instead of following Gods specific instructions…
2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.
3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
In the sentences above it says.. “…rebellion is the sin of witchcraft…stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry…” Meaning that as far as sin goes rebellion = witchcraft and stubbornness = iniquity and idolatry. Showing us that there really is no degree or level to sin, but that is a totally different topic.
Even God says it is better to be obedient than to sacrifice. A live example of obedience that I have for you is one time when I was in church with my family. I was still fairly young at the time but God gave my mother a word for another mother. Now my Mother was afraid to tell this other much bigger in stature ( and pretty scary in my eyes) mother what the Lord had to say to her. Now another woman of God who was not standing to far away turned to my mother and said these words… “It really is better to be obedient.” My mother stood there shocked that this other woman of God said that. It was as if that lady was in her mind. That woman of God had to say it again… “It really is better to be obedient.” My mother finally did what was asked of her.
Here is another example. Now I know that I am going to get a lot of people disagreeing with me and that is okay. But I will say what I am supposed to say. I had this conversation with a very good friend of mine one time and some times I wonder if he thinks about this conversation, because I do. We were talking about a lot of different things and we got on the topic of holiday and their origins. We both knew that the origins of most holidays have nothing to do with God or Jesus’s birth. Yes, including Christmas. actually God knew what we were going to do so much that he told us in scripture not to do it… Jeremiah chapter 10
10 Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
6 Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O Lord; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
7 Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.
8 But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.
10 But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.
11 Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
13 When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
15 They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
16 The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The Lord of hosts is his name.
17 Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.
18 For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so.
19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous; but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.
20 My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.
21 For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.
22 Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.
23 O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
24 O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.
25 Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.
This chapter specifically talks about how we did the trees before the fake trees came to be. It also talks about not doing as the heathen do and that their customs are vain. in verse 10 it talks about Gods wrath and that the nations shall not abide by this indignation. God makes it very clear that he does not like this whatsoever and yet we as Christians say we are doing Christmas in the name of the Lord just like Saul’s followers were keeping to cattle to sacrifice in the name of the Lord.
If this does not help you then hear this…
I found this small bit of information on a site called whychristmas…
“The Roman Festival of Saturnalia took place between December 17th and 23rd and honoured the Roman god Saturn. Dies Natalis Solis Invicti means ‘birthday of the unconquered sun’ and was held on December 25th (when the Romans thought the Winter Solstice took place) and was the ‘birthday’ of the Pagan Sun god Mithra. In the pagan religion of Mithraism, the holy day was Sunday and is where get that word from!”
There it is telling us that the original holiday on Dec. 25 was celebrating the sun god’s birth not Christ’s birth. There is a reason why God did not tell us his sons birth. I told my friend that we are supposed to be giving God the purest things only. So why would we take a holiday that was for a false god and say that we are celebrating it in Gods name when He never set it up or commanded us to? In the verses above it even tells us not to do most if not all of the traditions we do when celebrating Christmas.
If you want to look up more information you should type into your search engine “origin of December 25th” If you put in origin of Christmas it will tell you about how Santa came to be and other related stuff instead of how the actual holiday came to be.
This is my opinion, if you do not agree that is fine. But once we know this information I truly believe that we are heald accountable for it and what we do with it after today.
Thank you to those of you who stuck out to read this whole thing and may you have a blessed rest of your day, Amen.
Sincerely,
*This Girl*
This Girlz Life 