A sacrifice is what is pleasing to Him, or it gives Him pleasure. It is an important thing to know exactly what God considers particularly important so that we can please Him.

Paul used the term for priestly service when he told Timothy that he was continually praying for him. As we have said there are five different priestly activities or sacrifices that we can offer to God. Over the month we have shared what they are and here is the complete list: using a spiritual gift is a priestly sacrifice, giving to support the ministry is a priestly sacrifice, giving praise to God is one too, doing good and taking care of the brethren is also, and finally giving the gospel is a priestly activity. Paul wrote:

I thank God, whom I serve as a priest with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, (2 Timothy 1:3)

These five things are specifically what God said pleased him as spiritual sacrifices on his behalf. Even though the word sacrifice is used which implies in modern English a strenuous, demanding effort that is not what it means here. A sacrifice in the Old and New Testament sense is to give God what He has asked from us. A sacrifice is what is pleasing to Him or it gives Him pleasure. It is an important thing to know exactly what God considers particularly important so that we can please him.