Sacrifice

This Sunday, our pastor mentioned something about SACRIFICE. He said not many people talk about it any more UNLESS you are talking about perhaps our troops' sacrifice for this country or a baseball "sacrifice run". And yet, the Christian life is all about sacrifice. Take up your cross ... Follow me ... All to Jesus, I Surrender ... Have Thine Own Way, Lord ...



It got me to thinking about how little we modern Christians understand about sacrifice. When I think of giving 100% to the Lord, I always think of the apostle Paul; he was probably the most sold-out follower that Jesus ever had! He sacrificed EVERYTHING for God. And yet, he considered himself "chief of sinners" ... so, what does that make me?! The highest chief of the chief of sinners, I'd say.



My journey to realizing this has taken - as it usually does for me to learn any lesson - years. When Dan first left the active duty military, I had a lot of high expectations of how glorious each day of serving the Lord with him in the ministry would be. What I found however was that it was a life of sacrifice. Not that living as a Christian in general isn't about sacrificing too ... but suddenly it seemed like we were making a lot more concessions.

• I didn't think I was materialistic - but suddenly our income was cut in half - and that was with me AND Dan working instead of just him. So, I "gave up" money to serve God ...
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• I didn't think I loved to travel - but suddenly we couldn't afford to go any further than the surrounding states. So, I "gave up" the dream of ever going to far away places.
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• And "vacation days"? Well, we didn't really have any ... maybe a week a year at the beginning. So, I "gave up" lots of time off.
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• We couldn't afford any more infertility treatments, and so I had a big yard sale and "gave up" all my baby items that I'd been hanging on to.

There were other changes that came - and I began to lose focus. It seemed like I was always surrendering and giving up things, but nothing was being gained by it. I remember about 2 or 3 years ago, crying and saying "HOW MUCH MORE, GOD? How much more do You want from me?" And it seemed like He replied, "Everything." I realized God wanted ALL OF ME to be surrendered. Every area of my life, every dream, everything I so desperately thought I wanted.



It wasn't until I was willing to give Him all (and I think, honestly, there are still a few areas of my life that I clutch greedily in my own hands!) that I realized HOW MUCH I actually had. And guess what! God didn't "take everything away" from me, He has actually added so much to my life. I have learned to trust Him for EVERYTHING because truly, without Him, I am nothing anyway.