What do you think God really wants from you? The peddlers of the false “prosperity gospel” give us an obvious answer: some of your stuff. For they insist that if you just give them a large enough donation, God will turn around and give you everything you want. In a very real sense, they treat God as if He were a giant vending machine: offerings go in and blessings come out.

But Micah insists that God really isn’t interested in any of our stuff, no matter how precious it might be to us. Yes, God told His Old Testament worshippers to kill different kinds of animals and burn them up in a ritual way (Micah 6:6). But God couldn’t have been all that concerned about getting some of His people’s possessions: after all, He made everything that they called their own. And God’s Law clearly forbade His people from practicing human sacrifice, the way so many of the unbelieving nations around them did (see Leviticus 18:21).

So, what does God really want from us? Well, those Old Testament animal sacrifices were only important because they pointed to the only thing that really matters: the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus paid the penalty for the sins of all His people, all the Lord wants is for us to accept that sacrifice, humbling ourselves before Him and admitting that we cannot in fact do anything to save ourselves. No, it is only as we humble ourselves, acknowledging Christ as our Savior and bowing the knee to Him as Lord that we have any hope of being accepted by the Lord.

But if we truly surrender to Christ, we’ll also change the way that we treat everyone around us, won’t we? We’ll try to treat others fairly, and make sure that everyone else does too. Moreover, we’ll try to love others in the same self-sacrificial, unconditional, faithful way that Jesus loved us on the cross: that’s what the Hebrew word “hesed” means that is translated as “kindness” in verse 8.

In short, God doesn’t really want our stuff. He wants our love, for Himself and for other people. Will we make that sort of sacrifice to God today?

Micah 6:6-8 (NASB)

6 With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves?
7 Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my first-born for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?