Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you. –Genesis 22:2
Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Isaac–not for just any old reason, but to reveal the truth that only through death can your life be truly devoted to God. But it wasn't the death of Isaac that was really the point here, but the death of Abraham. It would be worse than death to have to kill the one you love, but that's what God wanted Abraham to do in order to prove his faith, die to himself, and die to his feelings that fought against him with every bit of their energy, telling him not to do what he was being commanded to do.
Dying to your urge to do what makes sense even when it's directly opposed to God's commands is at the foundation of faith.
Okay, so let's pause for a moment.
Just picking up and leaving my job, school, family, friends, and my pet for 11 months doesn't sound like it makes sense. And to make it even more crazy, let's add living out of a backpack with a few clothes, a tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad–which will likely be my bed for the year. Raising $16,000 may not make much sense to most people either. It's definitely crazy and definitely doesn't make sense. But I am dying to myself to follow God's commands.
Let's look at Luke 9:23:
If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Basically, Jesus is telling you to Come and die.
Here, we have Jesus. The King of Kings! The one who had everything, made himself nothing. He who had the world at His feet, chose to come and wash the feet of the world. Following Jesus means taking up our cross and making ourselves nothing.
Dying to self is refusing to let you be your boss anymore and deciding that no matter what God asks, you'll do it. No matter how crazy it sounds, you're in. God is good and can be trusted, so you can do whatever he asks without any worry about the outcome. Abraham was asked to do an unimaginable thing, but he never hesitated because he knew God and he knew that if God asked him to do it, it must be for the best. The world might consider that insanity, but the believer considers it necessity.
Obedience isn't always comfortable.
When doing what God commands seems impossible,
like in most eyes and even my own, raising $16,000 seems impossible,
remember Abraham, and remember who God is. Either he is perfect or imperfect. What you decide to do after He commands you to do something proves which one you think He is.
