An All-Sufficient Sacrifice
Open Your Bible
Isaiah 1:11,18, John 1:29, Hebrews 9:11-14, 10:1-14
BY Raechel Myers
Text: Isaiah 1:11,18, John 1:29, Hebrews 9:11-14, 10:1-14
It’s hard to be told you’re not good enough.
I still remember being cut from the Junior Varsity basketball team. I absolutely remember not being cast as Maria in our school’s production of West Side Story after singing and dancing my heart out on that enormous, empty stage. (I was cast as “Anybodys” instead. There’s just not as much glory in playing the role of a tagalong tomboy.) I remember being rejected by that boy when I was sixteen, not getting that scholarship when I was applying to go to college, and spending way too many anxious nights telling myself I’m not a good mom.
Rejection is hard. Nobody wants to hear that her best efforts can’t possibly make the cut. It’s hard enough when you’re trying to earn the approval of your peers, but it’s quite another thing when you’re endeavoring to win the eternal approval of the One who made you.
We may no longer sacrifice the blood of bulls and goats in an attempt to right ourselves in the eyes of God, but that doesn’t mean we don’t throw other things at the altar to make a show of faith or a pass at redemption.
We tithe and dig wells and adopt orphans. We read and write books, we “buy one, give one” and shop with a purpose. We make legitimate and worthy sacrifices from genuine hearts of compassion and love for the benefit of others and not ourselves.
We try.
We do the right thing with the wrong heart.
We do the right thing with a right heart.
We sing and dance and hope our Father notices.
And it’s absolutely not enough.
Nothing we do can garner acceptance or atone for sins. Nothing can. Scholarship denied.
Our sacrifices are not sufficient, however genuine they may be. No matter how much we do justice and love mercy and walk humbly, our “blood of bulls and goats” can never be good enough to do what the shed blood of the Lamb of God accomplished on our behalf.
You see, God always knew that a Greater Sacrifice would have to be made. And once and for all, it was.
“For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'”
Hebrews 10:4-7, ESV
Friends, you and I are not enough—and that is okay. Know that. Hear and acknowledge and embrace that. Hear also that the blood of the spotless Lamb of God has been shed on your behalf. It is okay that we fall perpetually short because He is our Enough.
In glorious light of the all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus, let’s lay our striving down. And on this fourteenth day of Advent, may any good thing we offer simply flow from the joy of a heart that is eternally redeemed and forever thankful. Amen.
For an added layer of worship during this sweet season of adoration and expectation, we’ve created a Spotify playlist for Advent 2014! You can find the complete SheReadsTruth | O Come Let Us Adore Him playlist at this link, or listen to today’s track on the player below. Enjoy!
60 thoughts on "An All-Sufficient Sacrifice"
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Oh how I need this reminder every day! I am nothing and God is everything!
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Totally awesome beyond compare.
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Nothing we do or say will ever be enough to earn what we are given. Eternal life. Mercy. Grace. Unconditional love. He gives it to us so freely. No good deed is high enough and that is OK. Let us stop trying to please Him and earn what is given freely. Just accept it and let His spirit guide our hearts. Let’s do things not for his approval but for joy from our hearts! We can’t be perfect or even come close to it but we can be close to Him! Seek Him and live life in fruitful spirit! Remind me Jesus to not beat myself up trying to be perfect!
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Thank you for this devotional, for your truly encouraging and truthful words that have helped melt away some of the lies I’ve allowed myself to believe. I really love being a part of this community!
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My prayer….may any good thing we offer simply flow from the joy of a heart that is eternally redeemed and forever thankful. Amen.
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"Friends, you and I are not enough—and that is okay. Know that. Hear and acknowledge and embrace that. Hear also that the blood of the spotless Lamb of God has been shed on your behalf. It is okay that we fall perpetually short because He is our Enough."
I'm done. I can't do religion. Jesus, I want you. I thank You and I praise You for every single drop of blood You shed because I'm not enough. I thank You that You are enough. May I look to Your goodness instead of my own "goodness."
Thank you for this today. I needed it.
–AnnaLee
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I heard a leader give a speech about how she read a "devotional" about being enough and I went searching everywhere for this! I finally found it! I needed to read this. 'It’s hard enough when you’re trying to earn the approval of your peers, but it’s quite another thing when you’re endeavoring to win the eternal approval of the One who made you.' How exhausting is it when we try to 'look prettier, be nicer…etc' for the approval of the Christian ladies around us? Ahhhhh, I know it gets me going all over the place spending way too much money at Sephora. Winning the approval of others is exhausting, but trying to win the approval of God is suffocating for my soul. It takes away all the joy of reading my bible and worship. I want to be filled with Jesus this season. I want the Joy of the Lord to be my strength and also have it be extremely contagious to others! Great read today!
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So easy to lose track of this. No matter how often I hear this I still struggle with it. I like to earn things (degrees, certifications, etc). Somewhere in the back of my brain is the thought, “if you don’t work for it, it’s not really valuable”. But that’s just not true. True, it cost ME nothing. But my redemption cost Jesus Christ more pain, sorrow, and suffering than I can ever imagine! And He suffered all of it for people who would hate Him. And rebel against Him. And people who would eventually crawl broken to Him. People like me. Wow. No words
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