Trying to teach Kindergartners from affluent families about sacrificing for God can be quite a challenge. I'm afraid I didn't do too well with that assignment tonight in the Bible class I taught. I think the closest I came was establishing the fact that we should share what we have with God and give Him back a portion of what He has given us, but even that brought up some really interesting comments and questions from the little ones.
After Bible class, I saw two friends that were visiting; one, a preacher that I have known for over 25 years, the other is a young woman who's husband is a young preacher looking for a place to preach. As the preacher friend and I were reminiscing and talking about my husband's and my impending move to Puerto Rico the young preacher's wife came up to me to talk about a post I had on the blog a week or so ago. I had stated it seemed harder for women to make some of the sacrifices for living for God than it was for men. Particularly I was talking about the sacrifices a preacher makes in moving around. The preacher and I continued our conversation after she left and he talked about how he had "drug" his wife for two years over to Hungary to preach sometime back and some of the frustrations with that difficult move.
Yesterday, some ladies and I were discussing the sacrifices for God that Christians must make. One sister said she didn't feel that we really had to make sacrifices as Christians. After a few minutes of discussing how different ones did sacrifice as Christians, one lady said to her, "You have grown to the point in your life that serving God is not a sacrifice to you because you have seen the fruits that come from serving Him."
I was thinking about all of these conversations about sacrificing...and it is obvious that none of us "ENJOY" making them. We look at the word SACRIFICE as ugly and demanding--obtrusive, interfering with our "want to's". Something that forces us to do what God wants. Yet Paul tells us in Romans 12 that, because of all that God had done for us in providing salvation through sacrificing His own Son, we are to present ourselves as "living sacrifices".
Sacrificing for God should be something I gladly do, something I consider an honor or privilege knowing I can never repay all He has done for and continues to do for me each day. And seeing the fruit that comes from living for God will cause us to grow to the point in our lives that my sister expressed--I want feel that I am sacrificing anything by serving Him. It will be my pleasure.
Dana Burk
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Great post Dana! Unfortunately Romans 12 has been seen as a passage dealing with the worship service of the church. While some things therein can apply to our worship service in the church the point is that we need to give up things for the service of the Lord. It is interesting how Paul uses the body to describe the “living and holy sacrifice”. The very use of the body means that we do not own it; stewardship is the lesson here. Then there is the word “living” which implies growth. Romans 12:2 urges us to change our attitudes, manner of thinking and living -thus “transformed by the renewing [active] of your mind…”
Our society is so far removed from the actual meaning of this chapter. The apostles and thousands of Old and New Testament saints sacrificed their very lives for our benefit (Revelation 6:9ff) and many of them sacrificed without ever seeing the fulfillment of their labors. “…and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. 10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, 11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven — things into which angels long to look.” (1 Peter 1:8-12).
When the apostle spoke of sacrificing he indeed knew what it meant to give all for the benefit of others, after all he was often an eyewitness to the murder of saints and even the death of our Lord on the cross. Yes, he indeed knew what it meant to sacrifice; it means more than giving up our special sitting place at church for a visitor. God blesses us so that we may be a conduit to bless others. May our blessings never be a reason not to serve God and others as we are commanded.
Ed Rangel
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