Page 5 - Lighthouse of Hope Magazine

4 Steps to Greater
Sacrifice deals with our perspective
Sacrifice deals with our perspective. For example,
a parent has a child who is trapped in a burning
building. In the process of trying to rescue that
child, the parent is severely burnt. While others may
see that as a sacrifice the parent made for the child,
the parent sees it differently. The parent sees it as
committed love. Because of the love the parent has
for that child, there isn’t anything they wouldn’t do
on behalf of that child.
Sacrifice results in joy.
Sacrifice ought to always result in joy. It is joyous
because you realize that it is more important and
pays greater dividends that the thing you are giving
it up for. “But for the joy that was set before him, he
(Jesus) endured the cross,” Hebrews 12:2 Jesus had
eagle eyed vision. He didn’t focus on the present but
he saw the benefit it would be for generations to
come. Jesus could have been rescued if he wanted
to, but he saw the joy that was set before it. Do you
know what that joy encompassed? The redemption
of Jeannette C. Holmes and every believer who
accepts Jesus as Lord. Jesus rejected a current gain
for an eventual reward. He saw the overwhelming
superiority of the eventual. Likewise, we see what it
would eventually mean, and this far surpasses what
we must suffer right now.
Commitment to Christ
The believers devoted themselves to the
apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their
shared meals, and to their prayers. (Acts 2:42)
Offering your Bodies
Today, in some parts of the world, Christians
are put to death for their faith. We are told
that there were more Christian martyrs in the
20th century than in all the previous history
of the church. Although we don’t have to
physically give our bodies, we can do so by
offering our wills to Christ.
Be a slave to Christ
This idea of our being slaves to God may
be shocking to some. In today’s Western
society we value our freedom. But it is the
vocabulary that Scripture uses over and over.
anyone or anything else. It is when we are
servants of God that we can “live as free men”
(1 Peter 2:16). Not all Christians are called to
be martyrs, but all of us, I believe, are called
to be servants of Jesus Christ,
Serve
The function of a slave or servant is to serve.
He puts his master’s interests ahead of his
own, his master’s will ahead of his own. When
we get an anointing, an empowering from
God, it is so that we can do the work God has
for us to do. When God gives us provision, it
is so that we can do the work that God has
for us to do.
Obey
A good servant is always diligent to please
His master by obedience. God doesn’t want
our works. He wants to work in us and
through us that He may be glorified.
Sacrifice causes blessing to
Rather, sacrifice causes the blessings to flow. The
Lord says that we are a blessed people and because
we are blessed, He wants us to bless others. We have
been blessed to be a blessing. We can always hold
God to what he says, “Lord I don’t have anything to
bless with, and you told me to bless. I want to know
what’s wrong, why I don’t have anything to bless
with. Lord, I want to be what you said you blessed
me to be.” God wants us to trust him, to prove him.
We must know what He has said in His word and
then call his attention to what He said. Sacrifice is
an opportunity for commitment to be proven. It is
easy to say how much we love and are committed to
our ministry. Sacrifice should never be viewed as a
burden, an obligation or a necessity.
Continued on page 30
LOH Magazine / February 2016 5