I’ve been telling anyone who’ll listen that God gave me the word “joy” for this month; the thing I’ve been keeping to myself is He also spoke the word “sacrifice” to me.
Everyone loves talking about joy…but sacrifice? Not exactly a conversation starter. Not to mention I couldn’t quite figure out how those two ideas could work simultaneously. But then, as He often does, God showed up in the forms of my squadmates and even our ministry hosts to put some of the pieces together…
Sacrifice: to suffer loss of, give up, renounce, injure or destroy especially for an ideal, belief or end
There’s been several times already this month where I’ve had to make some sacrifices. Whether it’s of my time, my personal space, my sleep or even my desire to pee without waiting in line, I’ve not always gotten my way. There’ve been moments when I’ve chuckled at the irony that God spoke joy over a month with the most potential to be uncomfortable. “Sacrifice” made sense, but joy? That often takes some very conscious effort.
Then I saw the example set by a teammate who offered to take someone else’s place at ministry to give them rest, or the way our hosts give up their own limited amount of space so we can be comfortable. And they do it all with genuine smiles on their faces. I’ve come to realize sacrifice and joy can coexist. If fact, they ought to.
I’ve found this month that if I delight in the Lord, if I truly seek Him, He will be my joy. When my Abba is my joy, I want to do everything I can to please Him, to be more like His Son. Suddenly those day-to-day inconveniences become meaningless. Those sacrifices of my flesh become gems to my Creator. As Christians, our end goal should be to have our hearts so in line with God’s that the word “sacrifice” looses some of its meaning. For to sacrifice something means to suffer the loss of it, and I want to come to a place where giving something up to do the will of my Father doesn’t cause me to suffer but rather to rejoice in the continued work He’s doing in my life.
I’m not saying I’m in that place yet; I may never be this side of Heaven. But I do know when we chose joy, when we look to the Father for our sustenance, no amount of sacrifice is too great. When we choose joy, He shows up. I want to waste myself in the eyes of the world on pursuing the heart of my Savior.. I want the desires of my heart to be the desires of His own.
