Sacrifices

Leviticus
As I was reading about the sacrifices that the Israelites had to make to appear holy before God, I honestly started wondering, why all these sacrifices?  Why the slaughtering and the blood?  What's the point?
This is just a picture of what God truly wants.  He wants us to understand that approaching him is a serious business.  Animal sacrifices are no longer necessary.  God desires mercy instead.  But mercy is a sort of sacrifice.  We're giving up what we would want to do to others, and offering them something else in return.  We're giving up what we would want to do in life, and taking up God's will instead.  Like it says in Psalm 51:17, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."  Instead of breaking animals on the altar, we're breaking ourselves, and that is usually a whole lot harder to do.