Sacrificial Love

Everyday we are bombarded by the notion that we should seek our own happiness above all else. It is in the commercials we watch, the music we hear, the billboards we see and even posts on every form of social media. But if we seek God's design for our lives, it is in complete opposition of that very thought. We are called to a life of sacrificial love.

Ephesians 5:2 "and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."  

1 Corinthians 13:5 " ...[Love] is not self-seeking..."

Philippians 2:4 "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."  

Practically, you may ask, what does that look like? How am I to live a life of sacrificial love? Ask yourself these questions:

• How can I better serve my husband?
• How can I better serve my children?
• How can I better serve my church?
• How can I better serve my community?
• How can I better show the love of Christ to others?

The answers aren't always as large and time consuming as we think they are. They don't always include wads of cash or unmanageable chunks of time. Even small sacrifices can make huge changes in the attitudes and morale of the people around us. Sometimes people develop a misconception that sacrificial love means that there is no return on their investment of time, energy, finances or whatever sacrifice in resources they make. But that isn't the case at all! Here is a couple of examples.

My husband loves to come home to a clean house and, as trivial as it may sound to some, a clean car. Lots of frustrations have resulted from me not keeping our car clean and by clean I mean leaving absolutely nothing behind in our car. Sure, I could give every excuse in the book as to why I leave things in the car. We are truly busy, I have a child, we practically live in our car, I didn't have time, I forgot, it's a hassle, he doesn't drive it as much as me so why does it really matter. Although for me, it seems like a sacrifice of time and effort on my part to make sure it is clean, for my husband, it is a way that he feels loved, cared for and acknowledged. It shows him that he matters and that even though something isn't necessarily important to me, IT IS STILL IMPORTANT to me because it is something that is important to him. Over the years I have learned that taking those few minutes to get everything out of the car when we get home is only a small sacrifice and in the end it has a huge payoff- no frustrations about an un-kempt car, a clean vehicle and a husband who feels well loved. Do I get it right every time? NO! But the more times I do, the better off our time together is spent. 

Sacrificial Love = Happier Marriage
 

Let's take children's ministry at church into consideration. I believe that the Children's Ministry is one of, if not THE MOST important ministry in the church. However, time and time again, you see Children's Ministries in desperate need of volunteers. Why is that? I'll tell you why. It takes sacrifice to serve in children's ministry. You have to prepare, you have to be willing to deal with unruly hungry, sleepy kids, you miss service, you don't get to mingle with adults, they ask questions that sometimes you aren't prepared to answer. Bottom line- it's work! But what you receive from making that sacrifice far outweighs the sacrifice itself! Jesus says, "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me" (Matthew 18:5) If we believe that "Loving God and Loving People" is central to who we are and what we believe then we should work fervently to teach our children how to live that kind of life. Our return on our investment is another generation that continues to cherish and spread the true gospel of Christ, not only because of what we said but because we also modeled it in front of them from the age of a small child and into adulthood. By being a part of children's lives we model for them that they are important and worthy of our time and energy. If they were worthy of Jesus' time, how much more so should they be worthy of ours?
 

By the grace of God, we are given a living example in Christ, of the life we should pursue with all our hearts. I believe whole heartily that lives, marriages and families can be transformed by the pursuit of a passionate and authentic relationship with our savior, Jesus Christ, and a genuine desire to please Him through a life of sacrificial love and service to others. I also believe that by living this kind of life, we will not suffer from a lack of joy, yet it will be provided abundantly by our Heavenly Father.

Ask yourself what sacrifices you will make today to better serve others. In what way can you demonstrate your love for them? Our life will continue to speak through the lives of the people we impact. I pray that my life will speak of the ultimate sacrificial love of my Savior, Jesus Christ.

What will your life say?