Sacrifice Or Exchange?
Q. I praise God I have you to go to when I lack wisdom. You’ve been a great help. I was reading one of your writings that explained our salvation is based on what we believe, not how we behave, and that leading a life of sacrifice was man’s idea, not God’s. I hope I understood that correctly. If not, forgive me. I couldn’t help wondering what it meant to deny ourselves and take up our Cross and follow Him, and also, Romans 12:1. What am I missing here?
A. As I wrote in the article the common meaning of sacrifice is to give up something you want, receiving nothing in return. This is not what the Bible tells us. It speaks more accurately of an exchanged life, trading the desires of the flesh for the fruit of the Spirit. (Gal. 5:19-23)
Jesus promised that if we’d just stop worrying about things and seek His Kingdom and His righteousness God would accept responsibility for meeting all our needs. (Matt. 6:33) He also promised that he came so that we could have the fullest life possible. (John 10:10) That’s an exchange, not a sacrifice, and we get a lot more than we give. We give up stress, worry and uncertainty, and we get peace and plenty.
Denying ourselves means to cancel our original plans for our life and submitting to His will for us. Taking up our cross means putting the old self to death. But in doing these things we’re always putting ourselves in position to receive blessings that far out weigh what we’ve given up.
In Romans 12:1 we’re told to offer our selves as living sacrifices. This means that we give our lives as an offering to God to do with as He will. But again it’s not something that we’re giving up for nothing, it’s something we’re gaining. That’s why Paul called it a living sacrifice.
According to Romans 12:6, doing this brings us gifts, supernatural abilities that enable us to do things for the Lord and for each other that we could never do otherwise. Things that bring us great and lasting satisfaction and eternal joy. If you haven’t looked at it this way before, then you have been missing something.
When I walked away from the world and into full time service for the Lord, the difference was immediate, it was remarkable, and it was all in my favor. And it’s not just me. It’s a promise He made to all of us.
