Grace Awakening

Something for nothing seems to be the order of the day.  Perhaps you have been acquainted with a person who has a way of getting someone else to pay for nearly everything they have.  I’m talking about the person who goes beyond the occasional gift received to the “I’m entitled to it” mentality.  For me, I welcome the opportunity to be blessed by a friend or family member who offers to buy me dinner or pay for something for me.  It is a great blessing to me when they offer to do so without the expectation that I demand it.  In fact, I find it rather humbling to accept a free gift.  While I welcome it, I must fight my pride to receive the gift and be blessed by the offer.

But, imagine something with me.  What if we could sacrifice to God someone else’s life for ministry?  What if you sensed God calling you to the pastoral ministry or the mission field?  What if you said, “God, I know You are calling me to ministry.  It’s going to be a big sacrifice.  I’ve got a nice job that makes me a very comfortable ministry.  I kind of like living here in this home that I just purchased.  I just started a new series of Sunday School lessons for the third graders.  But, God, I want to be faithful to your call of ministry.  Johnny is a young man about to graduate from high school.  I want to submit Johnny to fill in for my spot.  I know it will be tough.  I know that there will be hard times and long periods of time away from family.  But I know that You will be honored by my sacrifice God.  Thanks.”  Anyone reading this think this is a worthy sacrifice for our God?

While God may not be calling you to vocational ministry we all too often give God the sacrifice purchased by another because we are afraid of what the sacrifice will cost us.  Truth be told, the sacrifice is great.  It is painfully great.  Sacrifice requires total and complete surrender of things and people.  It requires that you, yes you, lay all the things that matter most to us (and the things that don’t) at the foot of the Cross.  It requires that you adopt an attitude that nothing is yours and everything is God’s and, therefore, God can do as He chooses with you, your family, and your possessions.  You cannot cheat the sacrifice.  You cannot expect someone else to pay your sacrifice.  To do so, cheapens the sacrifice.  It robs you of the great blessing of watching God work in ways you never imagined.

A worthy sacrifice requires that you lay down your most valued treasure –YOU.  You cannot lay down your possessions, your family, your job, or anything else and not lay down YOU.  Without sacrificing YOU – your will, your dreams, your wants, your desires, your pet sins, your passions, your anything else’s – your sacrifice will be vain and cheap.  You will be asking Araunah to supply what you need for the sacrifice.  The most valuable possession you can surrender to sacrifice before Holy God is yourself – all that you are and all that you desire to be.  Surrendering yourself will not be easy.  Surrendering yourself will bring attacks by the Enemy.  Yet, sacrificing yourself is what God desires most.  Not your time, not your energy, not your mind, not your prayers – God desires YOU.

Are you willing to climb onto the altar of sacrifice?  Are you willing to bring your whole self into surrender to God and His will?  Are you willing to let go of your possessions and entrust them into the hands of God?  What if you lose everything?  What if God asks you to become a pastor or a pastor’s wife?  What if God calls you into missions?  Are you willing to stop talking and thinking about sacrifice and surrender and actually do it?  It is simple to say, “God, I surrender all that I am and all that I have to be a sacrifice to You.”  It’s even harder to live it.

Let me make a suggestion.  Do not make the decision to sacrifice lightly.  Take it with absolute seriousness.  Make a list of all your possessions.  When you step before God, go somewhere where you will not be interrupted.  It may take you some time to wrestle through things with God.  When you commit to surrender, surrender.  Let go!  Release your grip on the things that you hold dear and lay them before God.  Pray them by name.  Start with your family – your wife, your children.  Don’t forget the most valued treasure you have – yourself.  Prepare to have a struggle.  Prepare for the assault of the Enemy.  He does not like a surrendered child of God.  He will entice you with Araunah’s gracious offer.  He will assault you with past failures.  He will stir up trouble in your family.  Stand strong in surrender.  Keep your hands off the things that you surrender.  Do not take them back.  Pray often and pray passionately for the strength to leave those treasures on the altar of God.  Let God surprise you with what He will do.

It is a true statement:  “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”  Heaven waits.  Our one-on-one time before our God awaits.  God is prepared to use the sacrificed life to His glory and honor.  Surrender and sacrifice are not easy.  But they are essential to growing in Christ and becoming more like our Savior.

Will you take the leap of faith?  Or will you fear the loss?