Living Life by Design

My grandparents came from a generation that was very familiar with the idea of sacrifice. They came to California during the Great Depression to find a better life. They managed to live through a world at war while many of their contemporaries sacrificed their lives for their fellow human beings and for their country. They were part of the Greatest Generation. 

The years following the war were some of the most prosperous this nation has ever known. The whole idea of making sacrifices, great or small, was alien to the next generation, and it was even worse with my generation. Entitlement, complacency and apathy became the new way of life.

The vast majority of biblical references to ‘sacrifice’ are in the Old Testament. These passages prefigure Jesus’ sacrificial death for us on the cross. In the New Testament, almost all the references are about Jesus’ sacrifice – the death of Jesus as the one perfect and complete sacrifice fulfilling all the Old Testament preparation and prediction. There’s no need for sacrifices any longer. 

As with the generations that followed the “Greatest Generation”, with each new generation of believers, the idea of making any kind of personal “sacrifice” becomes more and more alien. 

Paul reminds us in Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

Pray with me…

Lord, I pray that you give us the strength and courage we need today to be the “living sacrifices” you’ve called us to be…Amen.