To Sacrifice

John 3:16 “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.”

That verse is quite possibly the most popular verse in the whole bible. Literally, it’s everywhere.

As children we learn to lisp it.

You see adults with signs lugging it through your streets. Yelling “REPENT YOU SINNERS!” (Look, I am all for evangelizing. Just please don’t do it that way.)

But what I’ve been thinking about this verse is this:

God loved us so much that he sacrificed his only son. Love is selfless and love is sacrifice. 

I look at the world around me sometimes, and I wonder what sacrifice is.

Sacrifice has become not making it to the local coffee shop for a whole day, or… something.

(I was kind of being funny. Only it's not really that funny.)

Sacrifice isn’t a word we use much. It’s more of a thought. An idea. A “Oh. Sacrifice is something I could do if I want to. But I probably won’t ever have to."

I hate to break it to you, but at some point in your life you will have to sacrifice.

You are going to have to have to sacrifice your time to do something you probably don't want to do. 

I use the term, "Jonah Moment" a lot, and for those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you've probably heard me talk about it. 

In the book of Jonah, Jonah was a prophet, called by God to preach to the people of a land called Nineveh. But he didn't want to sacrifice possibly his life...so he got on a boat heading the opposite direction, which was stupid. God sent a massive storm. The storm whipped the boat around and almost killed everyone on board! The superstitious sailors thought, "Maybe this storm is a punishment!" After some debating, Jonah said, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea... and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” (Jonah 1:12) So... they did it. 

Jonah got swallowed by a whale. Which... Kinda stinks. 

Had Jonah sacrificed what he wanted to do what God called him to do, I'm pretty shore that won't have happened. (It sure made a whale of a tale though....) (Did you sea what I did there??) 

Sometimes we need to sacrifice what we want, to do God wants us to do.

And it's not going to be easy.

But it will be worth it, because God's plans are always best. 

~Rachel Joy