Success requires Our Sacrifice, Too!

Scripture:  Mark 12:30 - And you shall love the LORD your God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.  This is the first commandment.

Sacrifice is defined as surrendering a possession as an offering to God.  What does God desire from us; what does He want us to sacrifice?  We are brought to how He is molding and shaping us to look more like His Son the Lord Jesus.  We must understand how Christ was our sacrificial lamb; He died that we may live and have a relationship with God the Father.  God desires that we be like His Son.  Without Christ’s sacrifice, it would not have been possible for man to have any connection to God at all.  Therefore, what does God desire from us?  He desires our will, our worship, our praise, our very lives.  He wants us to live as unto Him - all for His glory.  Keeping in mind that everything we do, whether good or bad, has a direct connection to our loyalty and reverence for and to God.  What a perspective to gain and embrace!  Our success, our manner of standing is measured and determined by our obedience to what God has instructed us to do.  We know hymns which speak of God keeping us from falling -- keeping us safe and secure from all alarms.  Success is defined as a matter of accomplishing an aim or purpose.  If we are in Christ, in the character He holds, then we are in the Father’s will -- in His embrace.  We are pleasing Him. Paul exhorted us that we are to make it our aim our goal to please the Father.  In pleasing the Father, we must not go to ourselves for a standard but to the Lord.  He is the only one able to measure what is His pleasure.  He requires that we grow from faith to faith; that we walk by faith and not by sight; that we trust Him only.  Yes, our only acceptable sacrifice to the Lord is our hearts and minds stayed on Him; that we love Him with all of our heart, soul and minds.  Giving our lives to God’s purposes is the sacrifice He desires. Anything less is unacceptable and illegitimate.  Christ sacrificed His life, and we must sacrifice our lives.  When we are looking like Christ, we are winning and having ultimate success in this we call life.  

Prayer:  Thank you, God for giving us a life to live for Your good pleasure. Remind us in our day to day lives that only what we do for You is all that matters. Help us to strive to establish our hearts on pleasing You only, and then we will have success. May we deem Your word precious and treasured forever!  In Jesus’ Name-Amen

(by Lisa Williams)