What have you sacrificed for God?

What would you be willing to give up if God asked you to?  If God came to you tomorrow morning and said you must give this up as a sacrifice to me and you will have eternal life, what would you be willing to sacrifice for this gift?

In reading again tonight John 3:19 this thought came to my mind.  What would I be willing to give up as a sacrifice to have eternal life with God?  Quickly a couple things came to my mind like my job, my phone, my car, my home or my earthly possessions.  Would I be able to give them up for a life of peace in God?

I’d like to give you the spiritual answer and say, well of course, I can give up any of those things to have eternal life with God, but to be honest it would be very difficult to do, but I could do it.  These things have become important to me but I would be able to give them up for God. 

Would I be able to give up my friends, family and my three precious dogs…? Now, that’s a question I can’t answer.  I’d like to say yes, I could do it, but I might be lying with that answer.   Most of us have experienced the death of a loved one or someone very close to us but for most of us that death wasn’t by choice, so the loss, I would imagine would be different.  But what if God said to me tomorrow, I need you to give up my youngest dog, who is one of my very spoiled fur children, would I be able to do it… I don’t think so.  

Would you be able to give up something that means more to you than you do? 

God did!  That is exactly what he did when he gave us Jesus.  For a couple days I have been reading John 3 and not getting very far as things keep being revealed to me and tonight as I was reading John 3:19 I was asked could you do it… Could you sacrifice what I did for your eternity?

I am so thankful that this was only a question from God, but not a demand.  I am so thankful that I don’t have to follow up that rhetorical question with an answer.   In John 3:19 God tells us that he loved us so much that he gave up his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

I think God was asking me this question tonight as a way to reveal to my limited understanding the depth of what he did for us.  When you think about something that you love more than yourself, it could be your pets, your children, your parents or your significant other could you sacrifice that person for eternal life with God?

When you ask yourself that question it changes the scope of what God did for us.  It makes it real and heavy.   It takes a Bible story and makes it true to life; it becomes an emotional investment we would have to give up for that gift.

I don’t think there are many people in this world that would sacrifice their son like Abraham almost did with Isaac.   Abraham had waited many many years to have a son with Sarah and God had promised Abraham a child and that he was to name his child Isaac. 

We are going to bypass the part of the story where Sarah gives Abraham to her hand maiden, has a child with her, to try to bring forth God’s promises faster, and get to the point I am trying to make.   God had promised Abraham that Isaac and all of his decedents would have an everlasting promise with God. 

You can imagine how overjoyed Abraham and Sarah were when she became pregnant, and then birthed Isaac into the world.  I am sure Isaac was the apple of Abraham’s eye.  Not only was he indeed a miracle child as Abraham was 99 and Sarah, I believe was 90, but the promise that God had given to Abraham was completed through the birth of Isaac.   

I believe that Isaac could do no wrong in the eyes of his parents, so imagine how Abraham felt when God told him, to take Isaac to the top of a mountain, and offer up Isaac as a burnt offering to God. 

Could you imagine taking your son, your prized possession, up a mountain knowing that you were going to have to sacrifice him when you arrived to the top?   Abraham followed all of Gods instructions, just when the time came for Abraham to kill Isaac, he heard God stop him, and saw a lamb tied to a tree on the top of the hill.

Now, obviously, I am paraphrasing this story, but the obedience, and trust that Abraham must have had, to complete every step of this mission, God had sent him on must have been torture to his heart, but he did it.  He completed the mission God sent him on and because of his diligence his son was saved.

I truly don’t believe I could ever do this.  I don’t believe I could ever take something I love that much and sacrifice it to God and again, I am so thankful I won’t have to do that. 

When God sent us Jesus, he was giving his best gift.  He was giving his prized possession, just as Abraham was ready to do.  He was giving us the closest thing to giving us himself; he was giving us, his word made flesh.   He was sacrificing his most personal words and promises, to us to free us, and give us mercy and grace forever more. 

Try to understand this, grasp onto the idea, of someone giving up the life of their child in a horrible and painful way, for you and your sins.   This is not even touching the fact that Jesus did it, this is just focusing on the sacrifice of Love that God had, when he gave us Jesus.

I will never, in my lifetime, have to give up something so valuable to me, so irreplaceable to me, because of God.   God already took my place, with his son Jesus I will never have to make that decision. 

When we think of being selfless, we often think of Jesus, but we must not ever forget to include God in that picture.  If God wasn’t selfless first, Jesus wouldn’t have been the sacrifice.  We would still be living in a world where we have to offer up live stock or worse our loved ones, as a sacrifice for our sins.  We would be living under rules and regulations without the Grace and Mercy of Jesus. 

I am so incredibly thankful and humbled by the example of selflessness that God has shown us with that one decision. 

Now, maybe the next time we decide to look inward, on our own problems or what we are lacking, we can take a second, and think about what true selflessness looks like, and stop our complaining.  

Next time you are waiting in a line to long, your phone doesn’t have service, or God is asking you to wait a little longer on the deliverance he is working on for you, think about what God had to give up, for you to be doing all of those things.

Think about how much God must love you to sacrifice his only unique son, for sins that you hadn’t even committed yet.   This is a love that runs deeper than we will ever know, or be able to express in our lifetime, but what we can do, is give it to the others around us, and glorify him while doing so. 

When you are in lack, want, or need, think about the Gift that was given from a pure heart of love for you, and take a moment to ask for forgiveness for your selfishness, and then praise him, your loving God, for his sacrifice for you!