| The Lord is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer him sacrifices. | To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. |
| Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. | For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. |
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| And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. | I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. |
| The lips of the godly speak helpful words, but the mouth of the wicked speaks perverse words. | The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness. |
| May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. | Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. |
| Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. | And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. |
| Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right.” | Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. |
| In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. | One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. |
| “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.) | And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? |
| The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. | The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. |
