Fat of Rams

Proverbs 21:3
To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

It's no surprise that the media, as powerful as it is, has such wide spread influence. In either big or small ways, love it or hate it, the media has shaped who you are and the way that you think. In fact, the media is partially responsible for the clothes that you are wearing right now. It's probably also responsible for the reason why people write on their computers, post up their writings, and expect others to read these writings.

What about the way that we think of and understand love? Has the media somehow changed the way that we understand the gift of love that was perfectly portrayed in the life, death, and resurrection of the Son? I suspect that it did, it does, and it will.

It seems as though, that in our minds, love has become divorced from commitment. In other words, love is often understood as feelings of happiness, smiles, flowers, and at it's essential root, selfish-comfort. But when did love equate to such things? When did the thought of love become separated from the hardship, pain, and even self-death that is required to say that we do in fact love.

What makes my heart skip a beat is especially how we do everything we can to avoid making love sound strict and rigid. We believe that love must always accompany a heart sign <3. Love ought to always be red and pink. Love is always about wedding days and sweet, cuddly emotions. This cannot be the mindset for the people of God. My heart tells me that there is one essential piece of love that is missing in the church today. The key word is obedience. For Christians to profess that they love God, there absolutely must be a heart of obedience. But how come we never talk about obedience when mentioning love? Is it because it makes love sound overly strict and severe? Is it because the media never talks about it that way? Or maybe because obedience is secondary to the sacrifices we offer of loud singing and long lengthy prayers?

In 1 Samuel, the word of the Lord comes to the prophet Samuel to tell the king Saul to attack and destroy an enemy of Israel, the Amalekites. Saul is to destroy every living creature and leave nothing alive. Saul obeys Samuel and goes to fight the Amalekites and destroys them but he makes a crucial mistake. Saul decides to take the Amalekite king as a prisoner and brings back all the best sheep and oxen in order to sacrifice them to the Lord.

Immediately the word of the Lord comes to Samuel and the Lord rejects Saul as king. Saul pleads with Samuel explaining that he did in fact obey the Lord! The only reason why he spared some of the animals was to sacrifice them to the Lord! How could he have done wrong when he wanted to offer sacrifices? Samuel replies with words that we are modern day readers ought to heed today...

"Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams."
1 Samuel 15:22-23

Far too often I find that we are very similar to Saul. We love devoting things to God and singing songs of sacrifice and surrender, and yet we look at our lives and see such small traces of obedience. What good is sacrifice if our lives lack obedience? What good are tears, prayers, and praise songs when the moment we lift our bodies from the pew, the Word of the Lord takes a back seat to what we desire?

The truth is that love is not always fluffy, easy, and constant smiles. Sometimes love is rigid, brutal, impossible, bloody, and painful. We must not mirror the culture of divorce by divorcing love with a part of what it really is. From the very mouth of Jesus Christ comes the call to obedience.

"Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."
John 14:21

The picture of love comes in many shapes and forms. But ultimately the best picture of love was through the obedience of the Son which led to a blood spattered cross. The one and only time in history that perfection was seen in one's obedience, and the one and only time perfection was seen in a sacrifice that would save the world.