LSince time too long to remember, offerings and sacrifices have been made to God, who is the Creator of all things. From this, those who are opposed to Him, to their own perils chose to do same for other gods. This is not our purpose for this piece.

Now to the point: offering and sacrifices to can be acceptable and unacceptable. The Lord reserves the right, exclusively, to accept a sacrifice/offering or not. After all, it is made to Him.

Now, why will God accept or reject an offering made to Him?
A Scriptures account of the two that involves two brothers will be of help. The story is part goes thus,
"[3]When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the lord.
[4]Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The lord accepted Abel and his gift,
[5]but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected." Genesis 4.

From the foregoing, two things are revealed that are important to a sacrifice:
I. The person offering the sacrifice.
The person behind the sacrifice is the first to be acceptable to God. An acceptable man to Him will have his offering acceptable. This has to do with the heart with which he offers it. Every sacrifice with the wrong motive will be rejected by the Lord.

ii. The sacrifice itself.
The sacrifice comes second in its acceptability. No matter how big, good or timely it is, it can be of no value. The fellow making a sacrifice can render it useless. Let us consider a man who made money available with the wrong motive in the Acts of the Apostles 8:
"[18]When Simon saw that the Spirit was given when the apostles laid their hands on people, he offered them money to buy this power.
[19]“Let me have this power, too,” he exclaimed, “so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!”
[20]But Peter replied, “May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought!"

This man did not make money available for ministry use but to buy the gift of God. What a pity? He incurred the wrath of the man of God, Apostle Peter. The man placed curses on him, except he repented, those curses would have come to pass in his life.

Why did Peter do that?

He identified and declared the state of the man's heart thus
"Acts of the Apostles 8:18-21,0
[18]When Simon saw that the Spirit was given when the apostles laid their hands on people, he offered them money to buy this power.
[19]“Let me have this power, too,” he exclaimed, “so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!”
[20]But Peter replied, “May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought!
[21]You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God."

Beloved, is your heart right with God? That is the condition to accept your sacrifice or offering. You must be acceptable before God will accept whatever you have to offer. Stay blessed and prepared for the imminent coming of the Lord.

The Author is the set man of CTFM(WORLD OUTREACH)and Presiding Pastor of Christ Restland Gospel Church.He is a Poet and author of many books. Visit his blogsites www.4thlink.wordpress.com and www.peacelink.wordpress.com for more quality contents.