Proverbs 21.3 says to do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. You can tell a lot about sincerity and motivation of professing Christians by the way they handle God's Word. Peter describes what I'm referring to in 2 Peter 3.16 saying, As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do also the other scriptures unto their own destruction. He's speaking of the writings of the Apostle Paul. And some people only pretend to be Bible believers, and they're always looking to rest, spelled W-R-E-S-T, a verse out of its intended context, and to use it in a way never intended, in order to justify themselves in their unbiblical doctrine or actions. Our Proverbs says that the Lord is more concerned with our being just and fair in judgment than he is with our sacrifices of giving in terms of money, time, and energy. But notice the text doesn't say the Lord doesn't want us to offer sacrifices. If you lived when this proverb was written, the Lord would still want you to be just and practice and fair in judgment in addition to or along with the sacrifices you were to offer at the temple. But some folks read a verse like that and act like the Lord is saying that we shouldn't sacrifice at all. and that's just a dishonest reading of the text. The Lord is saying that our sacrifices don't mean anything if they're not accompanied by a genuine heart of faith and obedience to the word of God. In our dispensation of the gospel of the grace of God, we should give financially to support the work of the ministry in a local church. We should give of our time and our energy to support the work of the ministry and to preach the gospel to the lost in our own lives. Jesus addresses this in Matthew 23, 23, where Jesus said, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. See, Jesus doesn't say it was wrong to tithe. But if you do that without obeying God's word on the weightier matters, then your tithing is in vain. That was the message of Samuel the prophet to King Saul in 1 Samuel 15, 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. And that's the message of Jesus here in Matthew 9, 13. But go ye and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I'm not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. He isn't saying not to sacrifice at all, but to do so while having mercy and reaching out to lost sinners. Shame on anyone using this proverb or other texts like it out of context in order to excuse their lack of sacrificial giving. It's a shame. Just as Jesus himself offered himself as explained in Ephesians 5 which says and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. So should we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, not to pay for sin, which is why Jesus gave himself to be the sacrifice to pay for our sins, but we give our sacrifice as a response. as a reasonable service in response to what Jesus has done for us. That's the meaning behind Romans chapter 12, verse 1. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Just think of that. He wants us to give our all to Him. And the more you give, the more you will experience what it is to be a Spirit-filled believer walking in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.