The Cost of Sacrifice?
OPENING PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, let us always adhere to your word, as Samuel inquired of Saul, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams,” (I Samuel 15:22, NIV).
“We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.” Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: ‘The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.’” Romans 15:1-3
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:12 -13
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” I John 3:16
REFLECT:
Nothing speaks about our love for someone like “sacrifice.” As a father, I would give my life for my wife or children. In the great migration to the west, people who lived in the east would sell most of their possessions, load what little that remained in a covered wagon with their personal heirlooms and strike out in hopes of a better future for their families. They sacrificed a life of what they were comfortable with and knew well for an opportunity to have great rewards!
Out of a sense of duty, our military exemplifies what it is like to sacrifice to preserve freedom for our country. If it requires giving their own lives in battle, they will do that. Millions of men and women over our nation’s history have done just that – died in battles to protect America. I had the opportunity to read a book a distant cousin of mine wrote about our common “great, great, great grandfather, John Ross.” John Ross was the youngest of four boys who grew up on a farm in upstate New York. During the Civil War, his brothers had all volunteered for the union army to join the fight to save America and rid our country of slavery. John turned 18 the year that President Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address where he declared all men were free. This was a pivotal moment in John’s life, as he decided then, he also should join the war for the cause of making all men free. One of his brothers was already killed in combat, one was deaf from cannon fire and the other was a prisoner of war in the horrible Andersonville prison camp. John asked his parents to sign a paper giving him permission to go war and that was that. They were a deeply religious family and felt that slavery was against biblical teachings and wanted to fight more than ever to end it. Thankfully, my great, great, great grandfather survived to see the end of the war and I am a by-product of his sacrifice.
APPLY:
Take a moment to consider the fathers of faith of the Old Testament, like Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Daniel and the sacrifices they made to obey God’s word and follow his leading…no matter what was asked. Talk to your family about what sacrifice looks like and what price Jesus paid for our eternal lives. And God sacrificed, ”For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” (John 3:16, NIV).
CLOSING PRAYER:
Dear God, thank you for sending Jesus, your one and only son, who came into this world, lived a sinless life, to die for me, a sinner. Thank you that I have eternal life by believing in Jesus as Savior and Lord of my life. “For Christ died for sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body, but made alive by the spirit,” (I Peter 3:18, NIV).