I’ve been thinking about the nature of sacrifice a lot lately. It is, in the words of Martyn Lloyd Jones, the most important discipline in the Christian life…that is to say, I believe it is essential to our lives both as a whole and within our personal relationships. The extent to which we are willing to sacrifice will shape whether we live our lives in love or in selfishness.
To put it simply (and perhaps too rashly): without sacrifice, there is no love.
I don’t mean to simply make an authoritative, simplistic statement without grounding, though. So I want to consider the nature of what sacrifice is…I would say that it is the action of laying down personal preferences/needs for the sake of (something or) someone else’s personal preferences/needs. At its core, whether you are talking big or small, insignificant or vital, sacrifice must on some level (if it is a choice and not coerced) take on a measure of selflessness. It’s putting someone else before yourself; and so it is connected with love. We act selflessly because we love another more than ourselves…now I don’t think I’m really saying anything mind blowing here.
Certain examples/applications of this may come easily: a parent sacrifices much in the name of raising children, students sacrifice entertainment for the sake of grades, soldiers sacrifice personal safety/health/time (and possibly much more) for the sake of their country, a friend sacrifice may sacrifice social comfort for including someone new…of course, these are all rather imperfect examples when compared with the sacrifice of Christ, who gave all that sinful men may be made God’s own. Any measure of sacrifice I do in this life utterly pales in comparison to what is done by Christ on the cross.
I think the implications of this can be much more jarring, though…If I am not willing to sacrifice for someone I profess to love, where is the proof of my love? James says that faith without works is dead. If I say that I love you, but will not give up money or time or energy or pride for your sake, how much do I truly love? Less than I love my time or my money or, most truly, myself. The further I willingly sacrifice the further I love and will be called to love. (As in so much, I must stress here an emphasis on fruit…we love not to earn heaven or gain love or even necessarily to grow, but we love because He first loved us. We give out of the excess that has been given us)
To sacrifice is to exchange selfish desires (and even personal needs) for another’s needs (and possibly, but not necessarily, their desires as well). How can I, as a man, say that I love a person if I can encounter them and leave without my thoughts or words or actions being changed, in some way? I think Christ-like living requires us to constantly give up for the sake of the other…just look at the sermon on the mount. I must be willing to give up any list of necessities or pleasures in this world…but also be willing to give up the temporary comfort of a conflict-free relationship for the sake of Christ. (True, Christ-like love must also push us not merely to affirm and puff up each other (or ourselves), but to be willing to wound and punish for the sake of the other. Spare the rod, spoil the child. We must take care when we study scripture or even evangelize that we do not merely seek an affirming message that makes people feel good—but instead is a true, Biblical account of God’s grace and love to sinful men)
In all this talk of sacrifice, I do not for a minute begin to believe that everything is subject to change in our lives. As the Apostle Paul says, I must be willing to set down so many material comforts or ideas or preferences for the sake of the other (and ultimately the glory of God), but as Christ commanded I must also be unyielding in my faith and adoration of the one true God.
And so we come to it…the point of this (I hate to call it a blog) journal and the direction of my very life. If I truly profess to love God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength what will I not sacrifice for Him? What will I not give up if I truly love an eternal God who sacrificed what was of more worth and value and price than anything in all of eternity for me already? I know I am loved by the cross. I know that I must love by the cross.
God, make me to love sacrificially.