Why does God take things away from us? Why does He ask us to lay things down? This has been my question as of late. Why do I need to sacrifice things that are important to me. Several of my latest blogs have been about sacrifice, laying down everything that is important to us, for the sake of the cross. Why am I laying down my desires? Why am I laying down the things I love? Why am I laying down my own life?
Mark 8: 35: For whoever would save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
Mark 10: 29: There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and the gospel, who will not receive a hundred fold now in this time.
Jesus does ask us to lay these things down, but it is not for the sake of being poor, miserable, hungry, and sad. That is not the point of being a disciple or a Christian. He does not take joy in sacrifice. What God does take delight in though, is obedience. When a child of God shows his obedience to his Father, it delights the Lord like no other. And our Father, being good, desires to give good gifts. And oh how good his gifts are! I just spent 5 days on the most beautiful beach I have ever seen having the time of my life with 75 of my best friends. It would not have happened if I had not given up a year of my life for His sake. But He has rewarded me time and time again. God wants us to be truly happy. “God takes delight when we are delighted in Him,” as John Piper would say.
So all this talk of me wrestling with sacrificing the things I love, is not for the point of throwing my life down the drain so I can be miserable, and only when I’m miserable, a good Christian. But when I was holding on to things so tightly that I thought I deserved and therefore did not truly appreciate, God asked me if I was willing to give it to Him. But He has shown me that the reason is so that He can give it back to me, redeemed. Then it is a true gift, and I will see it as such. And if our human father gives good gifts, how much better the gifts are from our heavenly Father!
