Sacrifice: give up (something valued) for the sake of other considerations.
Sacrifice – something Jesus continues to teach me about. Leaving home, my friends, my job, church and the things I love like going to CrossFit. Doing things I don’t want to do. I remember the night I applied for the world race. I was sitting in Dansville, NY at my dad’s house. I was up way too late, and I kept thinking about the world race and decided to just go for it.
I thought I really understood what all I’d be giving up, and though I did have head knowledge of it, I didn’t fully grasp what it meant to surrender myself for the kingdom.
The enemy comes to attack our value so that we hopefully forget who God says we are. When we know who God says we are, then we can rest in that identity and rest in it everyday. I think The Lord likes to call us many names to remind us who we are in him, but one name he has consistently called me is a ‘chain breaker’. He told me I was made to stand up and speak for the injustices that he lays on my heart. A woman who isn’t afraid to be the only one standing…
The problem is….I’m scared sometimes to do those things. Scared to stand alone and be the only one walking against the current while everyone else is looking at me from the shore. Scared to be wrong.
When I think about sacrifice, I think about how when I arrive home, I’ll face my certain death at crossfit as I have lost all the ground I gained. I think about how I have no choice in what I eat and it drive me bonkers. Though my clothes fit the same I have no way of knowing if I have gained weight or lost it. I think about the friendships that may or may not be there when I get home. All the life I missed in my family and friends that I can never get back.
The enemy really likes to come and talk to me about my body. He always has but the difference between now and then is I KNOW when he is speaking to me and putting me down. If the enemy can get us to believe his lies, then he can control us. You’re probably wondering what Sacrifice and my body image have to do with each other.
The answer is everything.
In my mind, the biggest thing I was giving up for this race was Crossfit and my body. I considered for 3 months not doing this (before I left) because I knew I’d be giving up a community of people who push me forward to my goals and ultimately having no control over what I would eat. Some months not even being able to workout.
BUT…..What if our greatest place of sacrifice or pain is where God shows up?
When I read the above paragraph I hear someone who is self-centered. Please hear me, there is nothing wrong with being healthy and my goals are not wrong or bad. However, the posture of my heart was off. All because I don’t want to lose what I have gained, I am considering not doing the hard things for the kingdom. I was holding my WANTS higher than what God was calling me to.
So for me, it was giving up what I enjoyed and ultimately something I was passionate about to pull me out into the current. He wants to teach me that I can stand up in new ways for the people I work with in each country. How I can partner with others even if I don’t agree what everything they do. How to love myself despite the fact that I can’t control everything about my body in this season. How to encounter his grace on the days I forget to walk in my identity.
What if God is calling you away from something great to show you something new or even to give you something better. Will you allow fear to keep you on the shore or will you embrace the fact that you won’t know how everything will turn out, but you can trust the one who is calling you out into the current. Sacrifice is painful BUT on the other side of pain is something beautiful. Something so refined that you couldn’t have imagined he would do such a great thing for you.
So friends, my question for you is what is God calling you to sacrifice for a season? What is he asking you to give up in order to strengthen you in another area. Remember, seasons are just that, seasons.
I pray that you really ask the Holy Spirit what he wants you to give up so that he can be king of your heart and refine you in new ways! Remember, he has a plan for your life but you have to choose to walk the narrow road. It doesn’t just happen.
