Sacrifice

I have a couple of friends that are on the fence about Christianity. They seem to be holding back, like so many people, out of fear over what they may have to give up, if they choose to follow Christ.

This has really made me think. At first, I wanted to say that following Christ isn't about what you give up, but about the new life that you get, (not to mention eternal life after this life). But then, I quickly changed my train of thought.

The Christian life really is about what we give up. Jesus calls us to become a "living sacrifice" (Romans 12:1), to be fully surrendered to God's will at all times. This is no small undertaking. In fact, it is impossible for us to do without God's direct intervention in our lives. Rick Warren tells us in "The Purpose Driven Life" that the problem with a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar! How true!

When we accept Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, we give up our ideas of control and our thoughts and plans for our own lives and subject them to His will. That is a huge sacrifice! God doesn't want just a part of our lives, He wants it all... our bodies, our finances, our thoughts, our plans, our relationships, our dreams. We must surrender ALL to Him. Wow!

At first glance, this makes God sound like a control-freak, and Christians like mindless robots, but that's nthe case. We surrender all, because that is how we gain all. "When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life," Romans 6:20 - 22, NIV.

I think this is why God uses the analogy of marriage so often in the scriptures. When we get married, we totally surrender "I" & "me" to be replaced by "us" and "we". We sacrifice our selfishness and individuality for something bigger... family.


What if we really, truly surrendered our entire lives to God? What if we thought of ourselves and God as "We" in every aspect of our lives? How would "we" use "our" hands, "our" words, "our" time & money? How would a totally surrendered life look and feel? what if we woke up every morning and asked God, "What are we going to do today? You lead the way, and I will follow?" and then we followed through without reservation?

Do any of us have the courage to really put this to the test? I know in my heart that this is the true Christian life, but I still have so much to learn, and so far to go. Sometimes I feel like sacrificing 10% of my money, 1/7 th of my time, a few kind words spoken to others throughout the day, 20 minutes a day spent in prayer, a glance at the scriptures twice a day, and "being a nice person" is what it is all about...Ha!

My prayer is that God will help me, every day, to present myself -- my whole self -- to Him as a living sacrifice, without holding back, continuously until the day He comes and takes me home.