It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ~Hebrews 10:4
Jesus paid it all. Everything. His sacrifice paid for all our past sins and all our future sins. His sacrifice on the cross paid our debt.
In context, the author of Hebrews mentions that no one can be saved by the sacrifices of the Law. Even if we were to follow every last letter of the Law, it still won’t save us. The best those sacrifices can do is remind us of our sin and our need for a Savior.
But Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice. With His death, the Law has gone internal. A few verses later, in Hebrews 10:16, the author quotes an Old Testament promise that the Law will be written on our hearts and our minds. But it’s only written inside of us because of the Holy Spirit. And we only get the Holy Spirit inside of us after we’ve made the decision to follow Christ. Prior to that, we’re still relying on the sacrifice system of the Old Testament.
I would love to say that the logic there doesn’t add up, especially because Christ’s sacrifice was 2000 years ago, but in my two decades of women’s ministry, I’ve come across far too many people who still attempt to rely on a personal sacrifice of some sort to earn favor with God. They know Christ’s sacrifice saves them, but it’s almost like they need to earn the right to accept that salvation. People will give a big gift to the church, for the sake of earning a spot in heaven. I’ve seen people volunteer for every ministry the church offers, practically living at the church, and request not to be acknowledged out of fear that recognition among people would mean they had lost their favor with God.
It’s an easy trap to fall into. It’s human nature, especially in our economy, to think we need to earn our way. We sacrifice our time to earn a paycheck and we sacrifice our money to buy food and housing. It’s a give and take. Nothing is free in this world. So it’s easy to accidentally fall into that line of thinking with God as well.
We may not sacrifice bulls and goats anymore, but are you sacrificing to try to earn God’s favor? Sacrifice is obviously still a part of the Christian life – we give tithes and serve others, but check your motivation. Are you sacrificing out of joy and true love for the church and its Savior? Or are you sacrificing to earn God’s favor?