It’s not scripture, but it’s a powerful truth I learned too late. Sacrifice often takes a back seat when we don’t want to be inconvenienced or uncomfortable. We prefer easy, speedy, and painless and then wonder why we don’t feel fulfilled. The important stuff, the stuff that leaves us joyful and alive: that’s the stuff that involves love and requires sacrifice.
We are called by the greatest commandment to love, and the truth is, we can not follow that commandment without sacrifice. Sometimes that sacrifice is small like giving a partner the last piece of pie, when we’re planning on enjoying with a cup of coffee later. Other times it’s much bigger like sand slipping through your fingers as you let go of the past or your own agenda.
Sometimes sacrifice needs to look like patience. Sometimes it feels like a swallowing of opinions. Sometimes we’re called to love someone just at by being present. There is a sacrifice in not trying to fix people.
The people who love us back make it easy to love but we’re also called to show a Jesus kind of love to those who can give nothing in return and that is truly a sacrifice.
I think about every Christmas searching for that perfect gift to show my love for someone. I few years ago I realized I was shopping the wrong way. The more we love, the more we should be willing to sacrifice our time. I can bake a simple batch of cookies and give that with a while of listening and living them. Christmas was never supposed to be about expensive gifts, but about loving others and celebrating the gift of Jesus.
Each person who crosses my path is there so I can show them the love of Jesus
There have been times when I’ve wondered if all the sacrifice of a relationship is worth it or if it was really supposed to be so hard and one-sided. But then I realized I was looking at it out of balance. Love and sacrifice are not always equal. Sometimes we receive love far greater than we sacrifice and more often than the opposite. We’re able to sacrifice and love others but at some point. We expect love in return. We want to feel there is something in it for us. We forget that our call to love others isn’t to get something in return.
Love is so much bigger than all the warm fuzzy feelings. Love is our duty if we follow Jesus if we keep that in balance and realize that each person who crosses our path is a way to show them the love of Jesus. Is not about loving so we can get something back. It’s about loving Jesus.
I know I will never be called to love with the magnitude the Jesus loves me. But when I recall His sacrifice for me, it helps me put my little sacrifices for others in perspective. It’s not about me at all.
From Pity to Praise 