Irenic Road

A Short Reflection on Sacrifice

Ugh… in the last post I said I’d write a post at least once a week, and immediately failed to write for what, three weeks? I’m terrible. In my defense, these past weeks I’ve still been dealing with car and apartment problems, though I think they’re coming to an end.

Aside from those things, I’ve been thinking a lot about sacrifice, sacrifice and intensity. A couple weeks ago on Sunday morning, Tom Jacobs, who sits on Gateway’s oversight board, spoke about sacrifice. Pastor Paul and his dad Bob had just returned from Haiti, where they met with local church leaders about sending down a group from Gateway. Paul spoke briefly about a missionary couple who’d spent fifteen years there, fifteen years of working and blessing the people of Haiti. Now because of the earthquake, they’re having to expand their home into a sort of hostel for mission teams from the US. All those years of giving far more than most of us ever will, and they’re giving more. That’s sacrifice.

I’ll be honest: the word sacrifice has a negative connotation to me. I immediately think of burnt offerings and the old Jewish sacrificial system. From an early age I saw the burning of grain and slaughtering of animals on altars as merely wasteful. Doesn’t God say later on that he has no interest in burnt offerings? Like most people who bother to consider it, I have difficulty reconciling the severity of God in parts of the Old Testament with the love and grace emphasized in the New Testament. I’m not going to delve further into that here, but I do understand Jesus is the perfect sacrifice that forever ended the old system. Yet we are called to be more like Jesus, and thus more self-sacrificial.

The heart of Tom’s message on Sunday was this: “Every blessing we experience is the result of someone else’s sacrifice. If we really want to follow Jesus, we have to rediscover a life of sacrifice, so that other people can experience blessing.” I forget about the blessing part of the balance. Certainly, I’ve had many blessings in life that I can specifically trace to my parents’ or grandparents’ sacrifices– all the college savings, even my dad taking the time to help me find a car. Sacrifice shouldn’t mean giving up something good just to prove you don’t need it, but because you need something greater. We should be able to give cheerfully, at least some of the time, because even though it might hurt a little to think about all the money that’s going to your church instead of a nicer house you know it’s the greater good, for yourself and others. Pretty basic, but I need to be reminded. Frequently.