Sacrifice

Sacrifice ( Defintion)- 1. Sacrifice of one's personal interests or well-being for the sake of others or for a cause. 2. The act of offering something to a deity in propitiation or homage, especially the ritual slaughter of an animal or a person.


Now the kind of sacrifice I'm talking about doesn't require you to go and kill an animal.
 I'm talking about Self Sacrifice.


What are you willing to sacrifice for God, or others?
We are growing up in a generation that is so selfish, and doesn't care about others at all, and sometimes don't care about God and the things  we'll have to sacrifice for Him.
Jesus was a sacrifice for us, to live. I think that we can definitely sacrifice something for Him.


Sometimes Christians tend to think that just the simple fact that we are Christians, we won't endure hard times or trouble or that the sacrifice for Him will be "willingly". Sometimes we have to sacrifice for Him, and it may be the hardest thing we've ever had to do, or we may not want to do it, but we have to.


We have to realize that we are set apart from this world, we can't blend in, and it may result in giving up some music that others listen to, or tv shows, or even cutting loose of some bad influences in your life. It won't always be easy but we have to do it.


For me, sacrifice, has always came to me when I wasn't expecting it or it was really hard to do it. Even as far back as I can remember I was making sacrifices for God, and it was really hard. I was 8 years old in a Catholic School. We had been Christian and going to COTR for a couple years. It was movie day that day, and the teacher put in Harry Potter for us all to watch. We were new Christians and I had been hearing for the past couple years not to even watch stuff like that to get into my spirit. ( I don't know why they had that in a Catholic School to begin with but that's another long story) My friends tried to talk me into just watching it, and " going along with it", but I knew that wouldn't be right. I went to the teacher and told her that I couldn't watch Harry Potter, because it wasn't good to watch and she and the other students treated me like I was weird, and I could tell that she didn't believe me and was frustrated with me. So was just going to sit in the back of the classroom and read a book, but she sent me in the lab by myself to read for a few  hours. It was one of the hardest times of my life. I remember sitting on that cold floor( Reason why I had to sit on the floor is because there were dead frogs waiting to be dissected on the table)  in the dark lab by myself crying out to God, asking Him, " If I did the right thing, why does it seem like I'm being punished for it?"  " Couldn't I have just watched the movie?" " Is it really that bad?"


I had the choice to stay in the classroom and be with my friends, and just watch that movie, but I knew I had to sacrifice for God.  Back then, I didn't know I was sacrificing, I was just doing what God wanted me to do. I had to do it for Him. From that moment on in my life, I knew that I was set apart, and things would never be the same. I talked about Jesus so much that the teachers had to tell my mother to tell me to " cool it down on the Jesus stuff." ( Remember this was a Catholic School) it's not like it was a public school. Ever since that movie day, I was treated as an outcast, among sinners, catholics and sometimes even Christians because they aren't willing to sacrifice. They don't want to change.


My reason for telling that story, is we seriously need to realize that we ARE NOT of this world and we MUST set ourselves apart by sacrificing for God. Even though it's NOT going to be easy AT ALL, and you may get pushed aside, laughed at, and treated differently for it,but you MUST do it anyway. Think about it, Jesus was laughed at, mocked, and pushed aside by His own people and He saved us all, we have to go through the same. Get used to sacrificing for God, make it a LIFESTYLE, because God forbid if you get left behind, you will seriously have to make some sacrifices for God then and it WILL NOT be easy. It'll come along with pain, heartache, and in that case even starvation.


BUT...
Even though we have to go through some hard times for God, doesn't mean it won't be worth it! We'll be sitting in the Kingdom of Heaven with The Lord God Almighty! Walking on streets of gold and fellowshiping with Him! Praising His name for Eternity! God will reward you for your sacrifice, even if we don't see that reward while we are here on earth, we'll most definitely see it in Heaven!


Til Next Time Fellow Sacrificers,
Tori Taylar