Vol. 4, No. 34 Dec. 04, 2005

Making Sacrifices

Written By

Christopher Mentzer

When I first began my quest of 50k words in 30 Days on November 1, I thought to myself, “Writing 1667 words a day, how hard can it really be?” My reasoning for this is that in the first days alone I had written over 6200 words. But reality set in on the 3^rd and I realize that I had to write every day and the same number of words every day in order to reach that quota.

Yes, it is possible but not without making sacrifices to get the task done. This means letting housework and yard work slide, TV dinners or ordering out more often, less sleep, more coffee, and generally avoiding the family and other commitments you might have. Unfortunately these were sacrifices I wasn’t really ready to make. Sure my family understood my desire to do this but only to a point and the daily cares of everyday life do get in the way.

Many people look at conversion the same way. They want to become a Christian but they don’t want to give up their worldly ways. They want to put one foot in heaven and yet keep the other in the world. The apostle John wrote, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vain glory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (1 John 2: 15-17) One must make sacrifices to make change. You need to put off the old man of sin and put on the new man of righteous (Col. 3: 9-10).

Some denominations would have you believe that you still are the old man and that you put on an overcoat of righteousness to cover up the ‘filthy rags’ (Isa. 64: 6 KJV). This of course follows the pattern of ‘Once Save Always Saved’ and ‘You can’t fall from Grace’. The apostles warned constantly of the fact that one could indeed fall away.

Again in regards to the world Jesus said, “If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated me before `it hated' you. 19. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” Too many people don’t like to be hated because of being too different from the rest, which is why they will hide their Christianity when in public or even among friends. They fear of being judged as a ‘Jesus freak’ or a ‘Charlie Churchgoer’. But Peter wrote of Christians as being, “…a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” (1 Pet. 2:9) From this it doesn’t sound like being different is a bad thing.

I once talked to a woman about all the things a person must give up in order to be a Christian and she responded by saying, “Those are all the fun things.” Well, if I have to be boring to get into heaven, then I boring I will be! But it’s not about choosing to be boring or having fun, it a decision of sacrifice. God gave up his only begotten to son to become the perfect sacrifice for us and to satisfy justice. Jesus willingly laid down his own life so that we wouldn’t have to. What kind of payment do you think is worthy for your service to the Lord?

If you are a Christian but still living a worldly life, it’s time to sacrifice those pleasures for they will burn up with the earth (2 Peter 3: 10). If you aren’t a Christian, now is the time to commit your life to the Lord.