What does it mean to personally sacrifice something? If you’re a parent you definitely know what it means to make sacrifices so your child can have what she needs to become successful in life. While doing this you’re probably giving up some things you would’ve liked to have had. Maybe you’d like to have a nicer car? Maybe you and your spouse would like to go out to dinner more often or maybe travel more? Instead, you give up selfish desires for your children.
Webster’s Dictionary has a definition that’s easily understood and it is: To give up something for the sake of another. Out of the many complicated definitions in Webster’s this is not one of them. Sacrifice is easily defined but not easily put into practice.
A major part about being an adult is that we’re supposed to grow up and serve society in one way or another. In other words it isn’t only about ourselves anymore and instead about what we can do to support others. The reason it’s so important is that it’s what typically creates our livelihood. The better we can serve society the better off in the long run we can become.
This is so different from childish thinking in that a child just sees what’s in front of him and he takes it. What he doesn’t realize is that in the end he is so much better off if he shares because this is what builds friendships. When other kids see him sharing they are more inclined to share what they have. Not that any child should do it for that reason, but it is at the end of the day very effective.
When we sacrifice our selfish desires to help make someone else’s life better, we honor God. Not unlike how it makes you proud when you see your child playing fairly and sharing his or her things, God also takes pleasure in seeing us being unselfish. Knowing this should cause us to pursue living unselfishly but most of us fight our human nature to take care of self first.
This is why in the Bible Jesus talks about picking up our cross daily to follow him. What he said is that all of us have our personal baggage due to how we were born into sin. Our sinful nature is all about self (i.e. cheating, lying, lusting, stealing, etc.), in order to get things that we think will make us happy. People who have traveled this path realize how empty this kind of journey is. A lot of times what we think will make us happy in the end causes us a lot of disappointment.
Let’s face it most of us our geared towards selfishness…I think men are in general more selfish than women because women are inclined to attempt to please people around them. As Jesus said let go of our selfish desires and take up our cross and follow him. His cross as well as ours is all about sacrifice.
Webster’s Dictionary has a definition that’s easily understood and it is: To give up something for the sake of another. Out of the many complicated definitions in Webster’s this is not one of them. Sacrifice is easily defined but not easily put into practice.
A major part about being an adult is that we’re supposed to grow up and serve society in one way or another. In other words it isn’t only about ourselves anymore and instead about what we can do to support others. The reason it’s so important is that it’s what typically creates our livelihood. The better we can serve society the better off in the long run we can become.
This is so different from childish thinking in that a child just sees what’s in front of him and he takes it. What he doesn’t realize is that in the end he is so much better off if he shares because this is what builds friendships. When other kids see him sharing they are more inclined to share what they have. Not that any child should do it for that reason, but it is at the end of the day very effective.
When we sacrifice our selfish desires to help make someone else’s life better, we honor God. Not unlike how it makes you proud when you see your child playing fairly and sharing his or her things, God also takes pleasure in seeing us being unselfish. Knowing this should cause us to pursue living unselfishly but most of us fight our human nature to take care of self first.
This is why in the Bible Jesus talks about picking up our cross daily to follow him. What he said is that all of us have our personal baggage due to how we were born into sin. Our sinful nature is all about self (i.e. cheating, lying, lusting, stealing, etc.), in order to get things that we think will make us happy. People who have traveled this path realize how empty this kind of journey is. A lot of times what we think will make us happy in the end causes us a lot of disappointment.
Let’s face it most of us our geared towards selfishness…I think men are in general more selfish than women because women are inclined to attempt to please people around them. As Jesus said let go of our selfish desires and take up our cross and follow him. His cross as well as ours is all about sacrifice.
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