“Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”
Hebrews 13:15 & 16
We no longer know the meaning of the word “sacrifice”. Parents give their kids money to give on Sunday, as if that teaches them anything. It dissociates sacrifice with pain, which should not be done. If it does not hurt, then it is not a sacrifice, that is what the word means. Giving up money you earned is literally painful. Those kids didn’t earn that money. What they give didn’t come out of money they themselves worked for. How are they supposed to understand the significance of sacrificial giving if they are giving away someone else’s money?
A few years down the road and the parents of these kids are shocked when they discover little Johnny thinks socialism is a viable form of government.
In the Old Testament, men of faith would offer different kinds of sacrifices to God. These sacrifices were usually burnt offerings, where the man would take the best animal of a flock, kill it, and burn it. Do you think that was always a fun thing to do? It sounds expensive. We take for granted how difficult that killing your animals may have been because we merely read what happened, instead of experiencing it ourselves.
Sacrifice is a tool to understand God’s sacrifice for us. Sacrifice is a form of investing, where we trade what we think is valuable on earth for more valuable intangibles such as character, trust or generosity. God sacrificed a portion of Himself on the cross for us because He placed such a great value on mankind. Why this sacrifice was made is a great mystery. God’s sacrifice was not without great pain and sorrow. Our sacrifices are much smaller than that, but they still cause some pain. This is just in the nature of sacrifice. Science has shown that paying bills with cash is painful, activating the pain sensors in the brain.
Some people will reject the idea of a painful sacrifice, because we should be “happy” and feel good and all that nonsense. Those are not Biblical statements, happiness has nothing to do with sacrifice.
Even though our sacrifices are much simpler, they are still uncomfortable. We sacrifice sex with anyone we want in order to please God. Is this fun? No. Some Christian men will try to tell you it’s fulfilling to wait for sex and then have it with only one woman, but they are unconvincing at best. How would they know? They have not experienced both sexual lifestyles to be able to compare them. For this reason, saving oneself for marriage is a great sacrifice.
Giving money on Sunday is a sacrifice, especially if you are giving cash (see above). We can obey the Bible and be cheerful and ungrudging yet still experience the discomfort of giving the money. This is the same principle as enduring the pain of training, but smiling when you struggle because you know that discomfort is where all the change is.
Avoiding drugs is a sacrifice for many men. The weight of the world crushes man from all angles, yet he is charged by God to endure that pain while remaining sober. This is a tremendous difficulty in the life of man.
The Lord requires many sacrifices from his people. Embrace the pain of those sacrifices. Be a Man.
Mantra
All Sacrifice Requires Pain
Application
There are always opportunities to sacrifice money, time, resources and comfort. What you have to do is accept the fact that most of these sacrifices are painful. The Christian life is painful. The sacrifices required in the Christian life are also painful. Accept this pain. Become comfortable with the pain of sacrifice. Look for opportunities to sacrifice and embrace the pain involved.
Rid yourself of the idea that you have to enjoy sacrificing. That is unscriptural nonsense propagated by men who have sacrificed nothing in life.
Conduct Yourselves like Men.
