Worth the Sacrifice

It takes sacrifice to learn the great and mighty things that God wants to reveal to us. Closeness with God does not come easily. There is a price to pay—but it is worth whatever we have to endure.

God’s children are like…..well, children. We are easily distracted by whatever is in front of us at the moment. We are guilty of paying so much attention to the details of here and now that we fail to seek God’s face. We do not take the time to get away from the distractions and move toward God, even though we know deep in our hearts that is what we need to do. It is easier to maintain the status quo than to follow the leading of the Spirit.

I thank God that He is merciful and He keeps calling. He does not give up on us. He is more faithful than we are—so much more faithful.

Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not (Jeremiah 33:3).  I need to know those things. But I live in the triviality of each day, in the mundaneness (is that a word?) of the moment….when deep in my heart what I want to do is soar like an eagle. I believe all of us want our lives to be above the ordinary. We want to do more than just take up space. To rise above the mediocrity and sameness, we must learn to sacrifice. Anyone who has accomplished great things has had to learn personal sacrifice. Our Savior is a prime example. In order to purchase salvation for the whole human race, He was willing to give His life—and to suffer greatly during the process. We must be willing to give up the comfort and familiarity of the moment to dig deep into God’s Word, and even spend some time in agonizing prayer to find the depth of relationship that we need with our Father.

We Americans don’t want to suffer. We don’t like denying ourselves for any reason. We have grown accustomed to the easy life. You may disagree with me, but compared with much of the rest of the world, most of us live very comfortable lives. I read a story recently that illustrates the extent that some people are willing to sacrifice for what is important to them. In 1975, a Vietnamese widow who had saved money to come to America boarded a boat with her three small children. The boat was so tiny that the people had standing room only. She stood with her children and 125 other people on that boat without food for twelve days and nights to come to the land of opportunity. Upon her arrival here, she worked three menial jobs to buy a home, raise her children and put them through college. You can read her story here. This woman sacrificed present, personal comfort in order to obtain a better life for her children and herself.

More important than having a better physical life here and now is living in a soul-satisfying relationship with the Lord. By the examples of many men and women in the Bible, we learn that the development of that kind of relationship with Him requires much time reading the Word of God, fasting and praying. We know this. We talk about the need for these things in our lives. But are we making the personal sacrifice? I know that I don’t nearly enough.

Father, help me to live out in my daily life what You have put in my heart to do. Plant a desire inside of me and every one who reads this blog, so that we will be willing to sacrifice whatever is necessary to draw closer to You.