Today (I think it was today, anyways) I was thinking about the verse where God says, 'I desire mercy more than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.' So I was thinking about mercy vs. sacrifice and why God would desire mercy more; like okay let's get basic here, what's the difference? And I think the answer is that mercy involves relationship. Here's how I broke it down: It's easy enough to determine in my heart what involves a sacrifice and do it and get it done and look back at my sacrifice. However, mercy involves me in a relationship with someone else, because it means I'm having mercy on someone, showing mercy to someone. A sacrifice is independent, whereas mercy is dependent. And a huge thing that God keeps showing me is that our relationship with God is not in a box, nor is it strictly personal between me and God--it's meant to spill out into my relationships with everything, people, events, &c... And really, if I'm pursuing mercy in relationships, I'm going to end up sacrificing myself on the altar. Does that make sense?