I'm not going to offer God sacrifices that are no sacrifice. 1 Chronicles 21:24David's response to Araunah reminds me of a challenge by David Platt in his book, Radical:
"The key word here, again, is sacrifice. The challenge is not just to give away excess stuff that you really don't need anyway. That's not sacrifice. Sacrifice is giving away what it hurts to give. Sacrifice is not giving according to your ability; it's giving beyond your ability."Sounds good and true, but living it is something different. When my husband and I read these words last year, we agreed with them. We thought that the financial and schedule sacrifices we were making were slightly beyond our ability and so although our desires was to live "radically" for Christ, we weren't exactly sure what that meant for us. And, we were sacrificing more than most American Christians, so that was probably radical enough...right?
Then a couple of weeks ago, God made His radical plans known and we needed to act quickly. My head is still spinning and I can't put hard numbers - dollars or days - to what He has asked us to do, but we know that this is what we must offer. (FYI - we will be serving as staff at the Breathe conference for missionaries in closed countries.) What's even more amazing, is that God in His incredible mercy and abundance and love, is meeting deep desires of my heart through the sacrifice He has asked of us. Not according to my plan, but according to His.
David understood that sacrifice doesn't mean going through the motions; or doing what appears sacrificial in the eyes of others; or sacrificing in order to coerce God to bless. Paul was another who understood sacrifice:
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! W ho has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Therefore, I urge you, brother, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 11:33-12:1Father, in light of Your sacrifice and the sacrifices of Your martyred saints, it's crazy for me to think that this little thing you have asked my family to do is really radical or sacrificial. Thank you for meeting us where we are, for receiving what we offer, for using us in spite of our sin and unholiness. I am overwhelmed.
2 comments:
Just a thought: I've found that sacrifice for the Lord is a little like childbirth. It's painful in the moment, but all you really remember later is the incredible joy that came with the gift from the Lord.
SOOO excited about your trip, Staci!! I can't wait to see all that God does in the next six weeks to raise your support and prepare each of you for this adventure. He will meet all of your needs.
One verse that stood out in today's reading is 21:29: Then David prayed, "I have sinned badly in what I have just done, substituting statistics for trust; forgive my sin - I've been really stupid." How many times I want to look at the facts or the numbers instead of trusting what God has asked of me! I, too, have been sinful and stupid.
Two housekeeping items:
1) Blogger now gives you the option to subscribe to posts by email, so I've added that to the sidebar. It makes it a little easier to remember each day since the posts are delivered to your inbox.
2) I uploaded some photos from the get together on May 5th. You can find the link on the sidebar as well - under the heading of Pages.
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