No Sacrifice, No Growth
Consider these two examples of sacrifice: First, almost all the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were poorer after the war. About a third of them had their homes damaged or destroyed. Some of their families were scattered. Many went long periods being separated from loved ones so they could serve the public.
Second, in World War I, the American people made sacrifices to help feed the Allies. To increase exports, Americans reduced their consumption of wheat and meat and started eating things like sugarless candy and horse steak. Without sacrifice there is no victory, there is no advancing. As Alexander Maclaren said, “All along the Christian course, there must be set up altars to God on which you sacrifice yourselves, or you will never advance a step.”
All of life involves sacrifices of other options than the ones we end up choosing. As G. K. Chesterton asserted, “Every act is an act of self-sacrifice. When you choose anything, you reject everything else – just as when you marry one woman you give up all the others.” This is not intrinsically noble but is just how life is. Nevertheless, God wants us to go beyond this to make good sacrifices so we can do His will (Heb 13:15-16). First and foremost, this means giving ourselves to Him with a commitment to constantly discover and do His will (Rom 12:1-2). That kind of costly sacrifice, where we abandon our own interests to do His will (Lk 9:23, Wuest), results in public good, unfolding beauty, advancement in holiness, and release of His power. These sacrifices should be made joyfully, as the Lord’s Prayer indicates (Mt 6:10). Or, as Gandhi put it, “No sacrifice is worth the name unless it is a joy. Sacrifice and a long face go ill together.” See Ps 100:2, ESV.
“The Christian character is the flower of which sacrifice is the seed” (Father Andrew). Let us develop better Christ-like character so we gladly make the sacrifices the Lord calls us to make.
Unending pleasure in the next life; training for godly pleasure in this one.