Sacrifice

Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce. Proverbs 3:9 (NASB)

It is a commandment to tithe and give back to God what is His. The way I have been taught is that if it was God’s to begin with and you give it back were you really giving Him anything? I believe true giving is in sacrifice. As we discussed on day 2 the widow gave from her poverty and not her wealth. Her giving was a sacrifice. We don’t know what she had to sacrifice to give an offering to God but we do know that she gave all that she had to live on. What might she have used that money for besides an offering. Food for her table? A coat for winter? Rent for the month? We don’t know but she was willing to give all that she had to the God that she trusted with her very life.

Are we willing to give all? Are we willing to sacrifice to see God move? Do we desire His presence more than we desire food? TV? Our social calendar? When what we give is a sacrifice it triggers something different.

Jesus is the ultimate example of sacrifice. He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, Philippians 2:8 (NASB). Jesus’ sacrifice was His very life. He gave Himself willingly so that God’s will might be fulfilled. In becoming man he laid aside His many attributes as God the Son and lived a life without wealth, position or even acceptance. He knew no sin but became sin for us by dying a horrible death on the cross. He sacrificed His life for us.

What about us? What possessions, pleasures and plans do we have that get in the way of God’s agenda. The plans themselves may not be wrong but our unwillingness to let them go (sacrifice them) keep God from moving in our lives. I want to give sacrificially to God. Here is how:

Sacrifice your food and drink

Sacrifice your money

Sacrifice your time

Sacrifice your words and actions

Live your life as a sacrifice

Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Romans 12:1 (NASB)

During this fast you are hopefully giving God more of your time. Are you sacrificing your time at the table to spend more time in prayer? Are you spending time in God’s Word? Remember as you proceed that a sacrifice is surrendering something or in other words, giving up something that you want to keep. Are you just doing due diligence or are you giving a sacrifice?

And walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:2 (NIV)

Bible Reading: Ephesians 5:1-21