I have often heard people tell me what they have sacrificed for God. They tell me what they have given up or what they have started doing or what they have stopped all together or the people they don't associate with or blah blah blah – the list goes on. When I am confronted with those kinds of conversations, I find myself thinking about the things is have sacrificed as well. We cannot help but focus our minds onto what Christianity has cost us. Whether in those conversation or simply having random thoughts about it; the fact is, we often think about what it has cost us.
This can often lead to a bad taste in our mouths. We think about how great things were before we started living this sacrificial life. We think how difficult it is to sacrifice certain things, and when we don't, we believe that we are failures. And truth be told, sacrifice is tough! It really is. Even the word sacrifice is a tough word.
We as Christians are often told that we need to live our lives as living sacrifices for Jesus. What does that even mean anyway? Theology has different answers for this, but none really inspirational.
Think of what you have sacrificed for a minute. Does it make you feel good? Does it make you feel happy? I don't know about you, but it doesn't make me feel good at all. I start feeling weird inside. As if I have lost something valuable or fun or lost someone special.
Sacrificing is not fun! It's difficult.
So, to get a better idea about this, I read the story of Abraham when he was about to sacrifice his son (Gen. 22) when something AMAZING hit me like a ton of bricks. Abraham and his son are journeying with some servants to the land of Moriah where God told Abraham in vs.2 to, "… offer him (Isaac) as a burnt offering or SACRIFICE…"
When Abraham and the others get close to the mountain, Abraham says – and here is the kicker – "…You stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there that we may WORSHIP…" Worship? Worship? Would you consider SACRIFICING your son as WORSHIP? I guess Abraham would.
Abraham never saw God as someone who would ask for anything if it were to destroy something Godly. Even when it seems ridiculous and makes NO sense at all. Abraham never saw sacrificing his son on the altar as anything other than worshipping God. WOW!
Abraham has given me a paradigm shift. And this is it:
Every time we talk to someone about what we sacrifice; or when we think about what we have sacrificed and are sacrificing; all we really are doing is taking stock of what WE have done and how much WE have done, and why WE have done it. Every time we talk about living lives of sacrifice, we are pulling the spotlight onto ourselves so that we may hopefully feel good or get some recognition. But not Ab. Ab was clear that the spotlight is solely for God.
When we sacrifice something, we are not sacrificing something for our sake – we are worshipping God. The fact that you fast is not a sacrifice of food – it's worshipping God. The times you sacrifice bad habits is not sacrifice, its worshipping God.
The gist is this;
Every time you think about how much you sacrifice – in that moment – you are worshipping yourself.
But every time you think of those sacrifices as worshipping God and not as sacrifices – you are worshipping God.
We need to be in a place where we worship God no matter what God asks of us. Just look at ol' Ab. Because when we have our hearts right and our minds are in the correct paradigm, we will be living lives that please God. We wont be sacrificing, we will be worshipping!
And in comparing the two; worshipping is WAY easier than sacraficing. When we know we are worshipping God, life is a little easier and we will smile a little more. Our trust will be in God and God's pease will be in us.
So do you live a life of Sacrifice or Worship?
