For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Psalm 51:16-17 ESV)
This is the greatest sacrifice that you can make for me, not the “burnt offerings” of busyness or works or religion, but a broken spirit and a contrite heart. The sacrifice of a broken spirit is not the same as a crushed spirit, it is one that is voluntarily broken open to allow my Holy Spirit to come in. It is indeed a breaking process, and it can even be painful sometimes, but once a person is broken, you can be put together again in the way I’ve always meant you to be. The deception of religion is the idea that outward sacrifice can make an inward change, but only a self-broken and contrite heart can be transformed into the heart of Christ. I will never break you, child, but I will come into every part of your spirit that you are willing to break.
— August 28, 2021