"..God will never be mocked.." Galatians 6:7-8 (TPT)

Sacrifice is one of the hard truths about being a Christian;  you can’t compartmentalize your faith and expect God to ignore the areas of our lives we have tried to hide from him, He sees all of our lives in total without the barriers we have erected.

We often sing the song “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe..,” which is a song of surrender at its core, but we can often ignore the call to fully surrender to bear our heart and soul to the Lord because we have heard it so many times, we have become hardened to that call. 

The Christian life is a life of daily surrender, of our mind, will, and emotions to the Lord, but that is not all He is after, He goes even deeper into the lives of His followers, down to the core of our identify, specifically who we are.

We are shaped by our experiences (whether good or bad, joyful or painful) and it those experiences that the Lord desires to redeem. He would never want any experience to be the catalyst of our personality without us knowing that He was a part of it. 

When we experience hurt and pain, He would want us to know that He was with us experiencing that same pain at the same time and grieving when our hearts or lives were broken and damaged. He was not causing the damage, but He was there by our side and took the brunt of the hurt with us.

When we have had joyful times, the Lord was also there beside us celebrating and rejoicing with us and sharing in our time of joy. Our God is an active participant in our lives, whether we realize it or not. He would never impose Himself upon us unless we asked Him to do so. God was there all of those times and more.

It is when we relegate the Lord to a place in our lives where we can control our responses where we feel most comfortable, this is the place where God is least effective. He desires that we take the risk and open ourselves to His love that we may fully know His healing, restoration, and love in all areas of our lives.

When we come to Christ we have to recognize that He died on the cross to bear our sin and shame, our response to Him is no less, we must sacrifice our lives (our old man - sinful nature) and let it be put to death on the cross as our sacrifice to Him, that He may raise us to new life in Him, there isn’t another way to find real-life other than this way of sacrifice.

The passage says “God will never be mocked,” there are some who have taken the tact that they can live their lives as a Christ-follower and remain in sin with no consequence for their actions, the reasons God put prohibitions in place for errant behaviors become evident when the natural course of those behaviors produce disease or discordant relationships with others. 

God desires unity and accord among the brothers and sisters of faith that they may grow together as a beautiful bride, not a fire-bombing militant that is seeking damage or destruction. God’s intention is always peace, balance, and restoration when it comes to a lasting relationship with Him and others, not of obligation and ritualistic responses. 

Fear and pride are the two things that corrupt our relationships with Jesus and with other believers, for they both lead to deception.

Paul tells us we reap the result of what we sow; it can be corrupt seeds of destruction or seeds of life which bring the life of the spirit which forms in our lives. Sacrifice was the way that God had intended for us to develop into the bride of Christ by trusting and acknowledging Him.

I wish there were an easier way to become a Christian other than to live a life of sacrifice, but I do realize that sacrifice is what makes this Christian live meaningful and so productive with a depth that without sacrifice, it would seem shallow and unfulfilling.

I am thankful that God created a need within us to take us deeper in relationship with Him and didn’t leave us without the Holy Spirit, which is His manifest presence.

We do reap what we sow into this life, which makes us mindful of how we invest our time, energy, and money into the Kingdom, we will receive back what we put in but in more significant measure.

“Give generously, for your gifts will return to you later. Divide your gifts among many, for in the days ahead you yourself may need much help.” 

Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 (TLB)

Even Solomon saw the benefit in a correct attitude before the Lord and others had positive long term results.

May we grow in our relationship with Jesus and recognize that He gave us everything, standing with Him is recognizing that our attitude must reflect that He is our true King and we bring nothing except our devotion to Him, for He is worthy of our praise.

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett