Tag: sacrifice

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Take the Deal!

Daily Reading

2Corinthians 5-9

Daily Thought

Paul’s life is shaped by his awareness that this is but his first, his earthly life, and there is eternity to come, “for we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2Corinthians 5:1). “You only live once” has been oft said and never true. We are not long for this world is Paul’s point, so don’t settle in. I resonate with the words of Paul, more in my sixties than when I was sixteen, and look forward to eternity, “for in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling” (2Corinthians 5:2), and there is nothing wrong with that. 

But not so fast, there is work to be done.

“We are ambassadors for Christ,” says Paul, “God making his appeal through us on behalf of Christ’ (2Corinthians 5:20). An ambassador is a citizen of one kingdom living in another, representing his home country to a foreign land. Jesus is King and eternity is our home, but there are many who still make this world their home and do not know there is more yet to come.

There is good news and bad news, however. Bad news first. Between now and eternity stands judgment–“we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2Corinthians 5:10), and that is bad news because none of us have been all that good–not good enough for a heavenly dwelling. Now, the good news, and as God’s ambassadors, we bring it. For our sake God “made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Corinthians 5:21). That is the Gospel, God’s offer to anyone who will receive this gift: Jesus gets your sin and you get his righteousness, and it is in his righteousness you stand before the judgment seat of God. It is an incredible offer, profoundly unfair, and you win. 

Take the deal!

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, You are holy and good. Your Son has taken the penalty of death for my sin and given me the reward of life through his righteousness. Thank You so much!

May I rid myself of the desires, the thoughts, the habits of old. May I put them to death. Help me kill them. I don’t want to think and act the way I used to, but rather, to live the life You created me to live, a life of service and love, of goodness and peace, that gives You glory and pleasure. Make me one who gives those on earth a taste of heaven.

Amen

Daily Question

Why can’t we be good enough for heaven on our own?

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Life and Death

Daily Reading

2Samuel 19-21

Daily Thought

Absalom, the son of King David, led a rebellion against his father and was killed in the battle, and David mourned the loss of his son, wailing “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2Samuel 18:33; 19:4). Who can fault a father his grief, but this lingers too long and too loud, and at last his commander Joab rebuked his king, “You have made it clear today that commanders and servants are nothing to you, for today I know that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased” (2Samuel 19:6). Absalom, David’s son, had been, after all, David’s enemy.

Death is grievous, and should be, but there is a particularly awful agony in the loss of a son you never really had, whose death was as pointless as his life. King David, the father, is mourning not just the death, but the life of his rebellious, disobedient son, and in doing so, he scorns the faithful people who had well-served their king in battle.

But not all the sons of David died such. There is another, actually, the great, great, great, etc., grandson of David, but the Hebrews kept it simple, “Jesus Christ, the son of David” (Matthew 1:1). What a contrast to Absalom, for Jesus showed us how to die because he showed us how to live, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Absalom lived for the moment, for himself, and Jesus lived for eternity and therefore served others, and therein lies the difference in their deaths, and ours, as well. To a life lived for today, death closes the door, but to a life lived for Jesus, death opens into eternity.

Daily Prayer

God, Your salvation is amazing. I, a sinner, was not looking to be saved, but rather, I was self-seeking, longing to be self-satisfied. I could not, however, find satisfaction, contentment, peace, love, purpose in my pursuits. I needed a Savior.

Your Son left His place by Your side and became like me to show me who You are. He  sought me, saved me, and showed me true love, how to serve and sacrifice. He laid down His life to give me mine. No greater love.

Thank You

Daily Question

How do you hope to be remembered by others?

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The Act of Love

Daily Reading

Deuteronomy 5-7

Daily Thought

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). If we love because we are commanded to love, is it truly love? Isn’t love “a many-splendored thing,” a rapturous mystery that springs from my heart, over which I have little if any control?  

Not according to God’s Word, and not according to life either. Attraction springs up and disappears at its own whim, but not love. Love grows into reality with a decision, I choose to love you. I choose to love you no matter what, no matter how I feel or how you make me feel. I love you the way I learned to love, the way God loves me. Even at my worst, God sacrificed his best for me–“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God wills his best toward me, and I in turn will my best toward others. I love them as I love myself.

More than feeling and beyond choice, love is action, and often an act of sacrifice. “God so loved … that he gave” (John 3:16). Count the emotions in 1Corinthians 13:4-8, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” I count two, maybe–irritable and resentful could be emotions, and even they are what love is not, not what love is.

What love is is displayed by God toward me in his Son, Jesus Christ; and by me, in turn, toward God, presenting all of me, my heart, my soul, my might, to him. When I love God in this way, I will love those he loves, as well–my neighbors, my enemies, everyone.

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, I am amazed at Your love. Your Son sacrificed for my sake. Your Son considering me and everyone else on this planet above Himself. He released His hold on Your presence, and emptied Himself of glory, and died. Shamefully died for my shame.

Thank You. You saved me, showed me what love looks like, and gave me the capacity to love others. If You had not first loved me, I would not even know what love looks like, because I was consumed with me first. But now, I too am learning to consider others before and above me. To love them as I love myself. What an amazing love.

Amen

Daily Question

What are your greatest obstacles to loving certain people?

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The Cup

Daily Reading

Luke 21-22

Daily Thought

It was his last Passover with the disciples. They did not know that, but Jesus did. He knew what was coming, and, during the meal, Jesus gave them (and us) something to remember: the bread and the wine would be his body and his blood. “This is my body, which is given for you. This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:19-20). The disciples would, the following day, watch these words play out on a Roman cross. “But behold,” Jesus warned, “the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table” (Luke 22:21). Jesus already knew about Judas! “And you, Peter,” Jesus said, “the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me” (Luke 22:34). And it happened. 

The disciples will remember that Jesus knew ahead of time all that would happen, that he was still and always in command. But foreknowledge does not make the cross easier, rather, it makes it all-the-more terrifying.

Daddy had the flu. Five-year-old Sara wanted to help, and in she walked carrying a tray. On the tray, a Sports Illustrated magazine, some saltine crackers, and a cup of tea. 

“I didn’t know you could make tea,” smiled Dad. 

Sara smiled back and nodded her head. “I put the tea leaves in the water like Mom does, and then I strained it into a cup,” explained Sara. “But I couldn’t find a strainer, so I used the flyswatter.” 

Do you drink the tea? 

Taking some disciples with him to the Mount of Olives, Jesus “knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.’” Jesus knew exactly what was in the cup set before him. He did not want to drink the cup. “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:41-42). He drank the cup, the cup of wrath for the sins of the world.

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” ~1John 3:16

Our choice is not to sacrifice, but to love, and sacrifice gladly follows.

Daily Prayer

My Savior Jesus, You came to this earth and drank the cup of death that belonged to me. You took my sin and made it Your own and bore my penalty of death for my sake. You demonstrated a love that I can barely comprehend. You are God, my Creator, and I rejected You–but You never rejected me. In fact, You became like me so You could go to the cross for me. You knew exactly what was coming.

I want to pray what You prayed, not my will, but Yours be done. Make me into someone who is willing to drink the cup of sacrifice, to display my love for You through my love for others, taking last place in order to serve those ahead of me.

Amen

Daily Question

Did Jesus want to die on the cross?

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Leftovers

Daily Reading

Malachi 1-4

Daily Thought

It is a shaming question: the gifts you present to God, would you give to the king? “‘When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor?’ says the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 1:8). 

Overheard at a garage sale, “Why are you selling the barbecue?” “Just built a backyard kitchen. Don’t need this anymore.” “Anything wrong with it?” “The auto-igniter doesn’t work and the flames are a bit uneven. It could use some TLC.” “How much?” “We’re asking $25. If it doesn’t sell, I’m donating it to my church.”

God gets leftovers, and he calls it robbery. “But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ And God says, ‘In your tithes and contributions’” (Malachi 3:8). Essential to our offering is faith, and faith is letting go, so either owe God everything or give him nothing, but do not offer him leftovers. Or tips. “That was a good service today,” and an extra five is dropped in the offering, as if God should perform for our pleasure to earn his keep.

It is a full faith, however, when we empty our hands and trust in the Lord. “Put me to the test,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need” (Malachi 3:10). 

“For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and its fullness are mine.” ~Isaiah 50:10-12

We give to God, not because God needs, but because we need and God gives–but he will not until our hands are empty and open and ready to receive.

Daily Prayer

My God, may You fill my life with Your desires, Your passions, Your wisdom. May I love You first, most, and always. May my love for You be reflected in what I do, what I buy, what I keep, and what I give. May the words of my mouth, the meditations of my heart, and the actions of my self be a testimony of Your goodness and Your greatness, and of my devotion to You.

Amen

Daily Question

What does your bank statement say about your faith?

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All of Me

Daily Reading

Psalm 46-50

Daily Thought

In Psalm 50, God says he wants everything because he wants nothing. He wants your sacrifice because he doesn’t need your sacrifice. This makes no sense; or it makes all the sense in the world if you understand that religion and worship are not the same thing.

Israel is religious, yet God judges them, “Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me” (Psalm 50:8). Okay, you are religious, says God. Let’s examine your religion. Your religion is a formula: give God what he wants and he will give you what you want. You are using God to serve yourself. But, “every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills,” says God. “I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine” (Psalm 50:10-11). God doesn’t need anything. Your religious formula doesn’t work. Now what?

Now you can worship. You can give God everything because he needs nothing, and, therefore, you can trust him fully. What are you giving him that is not his already? Your gratitude. Your praise. Yourself, and that is worship.

“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” ~Psalm 50:14-15

Daily Prayer

Father in Heaven, The world is Yours, and all that is in it. You are the source of every good and every blessing, and my greatest blessing is I am Your child. You have adopted me back into Your family by making me righteous again through the saving work of Your Son. You call it grace. I call it good news.

You have given me everything, God. I give it all back. It’s yours, all of me. Now tell me what to do!

Amen

Daily Question

How do you show God you are thankful for all he has done for you?

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A New Commandment

Daily Reading

John 13-15

Daily Thought

The end was near, and by the end, I mean when Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), and died for the sins of the world. To prepare his disciples now for the cross that would soon follow, “that he had come from God and was going back to God” (John 13:3), Jesus grabbed a towel and began washing his disciples’ feet. Peter, believing it undignified of Jesus to play the servant (because he would think himself undignified if he had done the same), told Jesus to stop, but Jesus corrected him. “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me” (John 13:8); if you are to be like me, Peter, you shall allow me to serve you and “you also should do just as I have done to you” (John 13:15).

Jesus explained he would soon leave them, and “where I am going you cannot come” (John 13:33). Last words are important words, and none more important than what followed, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). Peter missed the last words completely and returned to the first, “Lord, where are you going?” (John 13:36). 

Sometimes, I think Jesus chose Peter as a disciple because he would ask the questions all of us are thinking. How often we concern ourselves with where Jesus went or when he is coming back, neglecting the very thing he told us to do in his absence, to love one another. When I was a teenager, I remember the church sanctuary packed on Wednesday evening for a conference on “End Times,” then, the next night, a dozen would show up to feed the hungry at the mission. I’m not throwing stones, I was there Wednesday, not Thursday. We argue at the edges and miss the center, “love one another,” then wonder at the world’s difficulty in recognizing his disciples. 

Daily Prayer

God, Almighty, Powerful, Wonderful, and Wise, You are worthy of all praise. The whole world sings of Your glory. And you got down on your knees and washed my feet. And you got up on a cross and died in my place. Serving and sacrifice.

May I have that same attitude, one of humility and service. One of sacrifice and dying to myself. One of love. May the world know that You are God, my God, because I show them the same love You have shown me.

Amen

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The Cup

Daily Reading

Luke 21-22

Daily Thought

It was his last Passover with the disciples. They did not know that, but Jesus did. He knew what was coming, and, during the meal, Jesus gave them (and us) something to remember, the bread and the wine would be his body and his blood. “This is my body, which is given for you. This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:19-20). The disciples would, the following day, watch these words play out on a Roman cross. “But behold,” Jesus warned, “the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table” (Luke 22:21). Jesus already knew about Judas! “And you, Peter,” Jesus said, “the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me” (Luke 22:34). And it happened. The disciples will remember that Jesus knew ahead of time all that would happen, that he was still and always in command, but foreknowledge does not make the cross easier, rather, all-the-more terrifying.

Daddy had the flu. Five-year-old Sara wanted to help, and in she walked carrying a tray. On the tray, Sports Illustrated, some saltine crackers, and a cup of tea. “I didn’t know you could make tea,” smiled Dad. Sara smiled back and nodded her head. “I put the tea leaves in the water like Mom does, and then I strained it into a cup,” explained Sara. “But I couldn’t find a strainer, so I used the flyswatter.” 

Do you drink the tea? 

Taking some disciples with him to the Mount of Olives, Jesus “knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.’” Jesus knew exactly what was in the cup set before him. He did not want to drink the cup. “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:41-42). He drank the cup, the cup of wrath for the sins of the world.

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” ~1John 3:16

Our choice is not to sacrifice, but to love, and sacrifice gladly follows.

Daily Prayer

My Savior Jesus, You came to this earth and drank the cup of death that belonged to me. You took my sin and made it Your own and bore my penalty of death for my sake. You demonstrated a love that I can barely comprehend. You are God, my Creator, and I rejected You–but You never rejected me. In fact, You became like me so You could go to the cross for me. You knew exactly what was coming.

I want to pray what You prayed, not my will, but Yours be done. Make me into someone who is willing to drink the cup of sacrifice, to display my love for You through my love for others, taking last place in order to serve those ahead of me.

Amen

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Oil and Whine

Daily Reading

Mark 14

Daily Thought

When a woman poured a flask of very expensive ointment on the head of Jesus, he accepted her offering as fitting and good, “She has done a beautiful thing to me” (Mark 14:6), but some in the room objected, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor” (Mark 14:4-5). In criticizing the woman, they actually demeaned Jesus. The oil, they said, could have been put to better use. The woman thought it best used for Jesus, no matter the cost. Besides, you cannot waste love.

One of those in the room, Judas Iscariot, however, put a price on Jesus, and “went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. They were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him” (Mark 14:10-11). To Judas, Jesus was a commodity, worth 30 pieces of silver. He came to Jesus for what he could get out of Jesus. But the woman adored Jesus–to her, Jesus was her Savior and Lord, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. She looked to gain nothing, but to give her all. If the woman had any regrets about emptying her jar of perfume on Jesus, it would be that she did not have more.

Daily Prayer

My God and Savior, what is amazing is that You gave Your all for me before I cared. You poured out Your blood for my sake, an act of love I can barely fathom. I am learning more about You, knowing You better each day, following more faithfully, loving You more fully. It is a lifetime of growth, but there is no better life to live.

My desire, Jesus, is to empty myself for You, as You did for me; to give up my desires and replace them with Yours; to lose myself in Your love for others; and to worship You by giving myself to You completely.

Amen

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All of Me

Daily Reading

Psalm 46-50

Daily Thought

In Psalm 50, God says he wants everything because he wants nothing. He wants your sacrifice because he doesn’t need your sacrifice. This makes no sense; or it makes all the sense in the world if you understand that religion and worship are not the same thing.

God calls Israel to judgment, “Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me” (Psalm 50:8). Okay, you are religious, says God. Let’s examine your religion. “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” (Psalm 50:14-15). Your religion is a formula: give God what he wants and he will give you what you want. You are using God to serve yourself. But, “every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills,” says God. “I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine” (Psalm 50:10-11). God doesn’t need anything. The formula doesn’t work. Now what?

Now you can worship. You can give God everything because he needs nothing, and, therefore, you can trust him fully. What are you giving him that is not his already? Yourself, and that is worship.

Daily Prayer

Father in Heaven, The world is Yours, and all that is in it. You are the source of every good and every blessing, and the greatest blessing is I am Your child. You have adopted me back into Your family by making me righteous again through the saving work of Your Son. You call it grace. I call it good news.

You have given me everything, God. I give it all back. It’s yours, all of me. Now tell me what to do!

Amen