sacrifice

The life of a Christian is one of sacrifice. One of the definitions of the word sacrifice as defined in the Webster dictionary is: to destroy, surrender or suffer to be lost for the sake of obtaining something. Jesus Christ our Lord sacrificed his life for our sakes. He left Heaven to come to earth knowing very well that we he would suffer and die but nevertheless He still came so as to obtain something greater...our salvation. Jesus gave up so much in order to save the guilty and redeem them and give them a hope and a future. He did it because that is what the Father sent him to do and in the end God was Faithful as on the third day Christ was resurrected and His name exalted above all other names, both in heaven, earth and under the earth. He is God, He is King, He is Sovereign and He is Savior!
While Jesus still walked the earth as a man, He made one thing clear, that we should follow His example in living and if need be, in dying. Just as He sacrificed so much for as, shall we also now sacrifice ourselves for Him. That we should destroy, surrender or suffer to be lost of so many things in our lives that we may bring glory to His name. And in the end eternal life is ours to receive from Him. If our desire on this earth is to serve Him then this should be a desire of our hearts and to lay it all down for Him, no matter how hard, should be our delight. Paul would say he considers everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ as Lord and savior....SACRIFICE! When we read the Word of God we can clearly see what lifestyle He expects from us and what we need to get rid of.
We as Christians need to destroy the things in our lives that are not in line with what God wants, and though what we sacrifice will never be as great as the sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord, it will mark us as those who seek to do what is pleasing to God. That is what a Christian lives to do, to seek to please God, to Obey Him, to worship Him, to serve Him, to live for Him. Success is nice but what does God want with success? The earth and everything in it is already His so our money is irrelevant but our Obedience is priceless. So let’s review our lives that we may see what sacrifices we need to make that we may Obtain something greater from God.