Obedience is better than sacrifice

By Daniel Francis

In 2020, after publishing my first book, The Millennial Mind, I was riding a wave of momentum. Six months after the launch, I had sold 1,000 copies, I was being asked to make speeches, be a guest on panel discussions, and had even started working on my second book.

During all this, I thought to myself, why not create a course built on the foundation of my book? This idea excited me, so I took a few days to put the course together. When I was finished, I called the course, ‘Sculpting Your Millennial Mind’, playing off of my book’s name.

After launching the course, I got a little over 15 people to sign up. We were still experiencing COVID-19 and thus could not meet in person. The virtual route was my only option but I did not want to simply do a Zoom call. I enlisted a then friend of mine who owned a studio to create a space for me to hold the sessions and to use his camera equipment to capture the sessions and stream them through Zoom. The idea was that the studio setup would look more professional and would be a step above a simple Zoom session, enriching the overall experience for my participants.

I outlined in detail what I needed from my then friend to make this endeavour a success; he agreed to the terms, and I paid him. He offered a discount, but I told him that I wanted his best, and no discount was necessary.

The day of the first session came about, and I arrived at the studio 30 minutes early as we had discussed. I was surprised to find that the studio was set up above and beyond my expectations. He went the extra mile to make the setup extraordinary. I was pleasantly surprised.

But there was a problem. He had not tested the equipment nor done a dry run of the live streaming as we had discussed. As a result, the session did not start on time as he was troubleshooting issues, and although the setup looked amazing, the session was a disaster. It was plagued with technical difficulties, which robbed my participants of a good experience. Suffice it to say, many wanted a refund after session one, and I was livid.

I voiced my dissatisfaction with the service, but my friend doubled down on the fact that he had gone above and beyond to set up the space and that should hold more weight, even though the session did not run smoothly.

What he missed was that even though he provided extra, he ultimately did not achieve the main objective for which I hired him. It was like I ordered a basic one-tier sponge cake and was given a beautifully decorated three-tiered masterpiece of a cake, BUT it was a carrot cake. The cake is beautiful, but it was not what I ordered.

This story came to my mind after reading about Saul in the book of Samuel. He lost favour with God because he did not follow God’s expressed instructions. He thought it was fine because even though he did not follow God’s exact instructions, he brought offerings. He thought his sacrifice made up for his lack of obedience. Just like my then friend thought his extra work made up for his lack of following my main instructions. Just like when we ‘sacrifice’ for God, yet we aren’t ultimately obedient.

What does this sentiment look like? It looks like I do everything I’m supposed to do, above and beyond, yet I intentionally still allow certain sins to take hold. I tell myself this is my little vice because I have been good.

This is ok, no? It’s not. For example, I’ve been great all year, so what’s a little bad behaviour during Carnival? I follow all of what God wants from me, so no biggie if I am having sex. I give much of my time and money to my church, community, and the less fortunate, but what if I am terrible to my employees or co-workers? God is asking for a sponge cake, and you’re giving Him a well-dressed-up carrot cake. Your sacrifice does not overtake your lack of obedience.

Let us not fall out of favour with God as Saul did. Focus on obedience and really pay attention to what God wants from us. Don’t use your good behaviour as an excuse for bad behaviour. Your obedience is what God ultimately wants, so always stay true to that.

Daniel Francis, author of The Millennial Mind, The Millennial Experience, and How to Write and Self-Publish Your Book, is an entrepreneur passionate about leadership and storytelling. As a leadership development coach at Rebit Limited, he has spent the last four years equipping individuals to thrive personally and professionally.

He also leads One Momentum Publishing, a hybrid publishing company through which he has guided hundreds of authors on their journey from idea to published book.

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