SELF-SACRIFICE

2/21/11 Self-sacrifice. Sacrifice for others. It’s our spiritual service. Yet self-sacrifice is a most difficult thing for us to do. It’s a surrender of sorts. It comes with joy but only as we sacrifice all the details of our lives without conditions. Lord I will gladly serve you in Africa but just don’t make me walk across the street to my cranky neighbor and share your love.

Sacrifice is not easy. Yet, when we sacrifice with our eyes focused on Him, it becomes easier. His life becomes more evident in our life. As the child once said, “Jesus begins to stick out all over.”

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. (Romans 12:1)

Consider these words of Oswald Chambers and then contemplate these verses. “You must be willing to be placed on the altar and go through the fire; willing to experience what the altar represents-burning, purification, and separation for only one purpose-the elimination of every desire and affection not grounded in or directed toward God. But you don’t eliminate it, God does."

“Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27).

You “bind the sacrifice . . . to the horns of the altar” and see to it that you don’t wallow in self-pity once the fire begins. After you have gone through the fire, there will be nothing that will be able to trouble or depress you. When another crisis arises, you will realize that things cannot touch you as they used to do. (O. Chambers) What fire lies ahead in your life?

Are you willing to tell God you are ready to be poured out as an offering, Maybe you can start with the ones dear to you as it says in I Thessalonians 1:8, “so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” Sharing one’s life with another is true sacrifice.