FAITH CAPSULE: Is worship and sacrifice the same? 

2 Samuel 24

Worship is not just praising God, singing, or praying with devotion. 
To worship is a sacrifice. 
Looking at the Old Testament shows that God requires sacrifice from the Israelites as a form of worship pleasing to him.
Is worship and sacrifice the same?
Ritual sacrifice is no more as in the Old Testament, but today, sacrifice is a form of worship. 
Throughout the New Testament, we see sacrifice as part of the life of worship in response to who God is and what He has done for us.
Romans 1:1-2 records what sacrificing entails, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Sacrificing is labor and is not cheap.
In 2 Samuel 24 documents, that sacrifice is costly when David asked Joab to go and count the number of the Israelites against the word of God.
David sinned before God and sought for forgiveness. 
God sent Prophet Gad to tell David the three consequences which to take one, of the sin of numbering the Israelites: 
2 Samuel 24:13, “So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me. “And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
David settled for the plague of the consequences.
David pleaded for the mercy of God.
God sent Prophet Gad to David to go and erect an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah of Jebusite.
At Araunah, David offered a price, but Araunah refused to take the money offered by David.
In 2 Samuel 24:24, David reacted to Araunah, “…No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.”
In 2 Samuel 24:25, “And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel.”
A reasonable sacrifice, which is a costly sacrifice, will gain the attention of God.
Forgiveness, deliverance, and preservation will result in a costly sacrifice.

Prayer for today: Ask that in the mercy of God, the understanding of living sacrifice for God becomes established in your life.