I don’t often think of my sacrifices in terms of benefiting myself. Whether I toil all day on a pro bono legal case, spend a long evening teaching someone about God’s Word, or simply sit and pray with someone who is walking through a deep valley—I WILL become weary in well-doing unless I understand the priceless value of sacrifice. With the right mindset, we desire the gift of sacrifice like an opportunity to discover buried treasure.
The sacrificial love of Jesus reveals our priceless value and enables us to live for eternity in His presence.
“By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
Hebrews 10:10-14
Jesus’ sacrifice enables us to have the greatest gift offered to mankind—to become reconciled to God. He gives us the same opportunity; that is, to sacrifice ourselves in His service and in His love to bring others to Him.
“I beseech [beg] you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
Romans 12:1
So why would we WANT to sacrifice our life for God? One word: Love. Without the experience of God’s perfect love, we have no satisfying motivation to serve Him and—well, we might as well live like the devil.
Sacrifice doesn’t feel burdensome when it is offered because of our love for God.
You see, love is total selflessness. And because God IS love, He is the most amazing giver. We can NEVER out-give God. When we are close to Him, we realize the enormous degree to which we are benefactors of His generous love and mercy. We are like royalty seated at a table groaning under the weight of food and we invite everyone because it’s really no sacrifice for us to share.
When we are close to God, we experience His abundance and we realize we have MORE than enough to share with others. We see…
We have more than enough time;
We have more than enough money;
We have more than enough love; and
We have more than enough
…of EVERYTHING that satisfies the soul.
God’s presence reveals the pricelessness and freedom of self-sacrifice.
Jesus told the Apostle Paul:
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Acts 20:35
The enemy wants the gift of sacrifice to remain a hidden mystery to humanity. The enemy wants us to think selflessness will cost us more than it’s worth. The enemy wants your mantra to be: “get all you can, can what you get, and sit on the can.” [author unknown] Indeed, that tends to be our mentality. But when we engage in the gift of loving sacrifice, our motivation for getting more is only so we can give it away.
Loving sacrifice is a gift that enriches us because—God never runs out of anything.
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