Sacrificial Love

“So then, my friends, because of God’s great mercy to us, I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer. Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God—what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.” Romans 12 v1-2

Sacrificial love. It’s something difficult to contemplate in the abstract. We can listen to stories of sacrifices made by others, we can empathise and admire their endurance of hardship – but, do it ourselves? That takes prayer, courage, commitment, and, well, . . . sacrifice!
The Son of God gave up His Life so that we could live. Willingly. Because he could see beyond the suffering, see the greatest gift that it was possible to imagine, the end of sin, the gift of eternal life, become a reality. His love was the greatest sacrificial love of all.
How can we possibly hope to follow in these footsteps? Paul suggests, in Romans 12, that we offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God. With the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit, our actions and every-day decisions become an embodiment of sacrifice. Through the gift of LOVE we mirror the act of Christ – this is what living as Christians is all about.
We sacrifice our time and desires – to offer dutiful service to others.
We sacrifice our possessions and money – to those in more need than us.
We sacrifice our energy – to fit more acts of love into each day.
We sacrifice our comfort and conformity – to be examples of Christ in action.
We sacrifice our plans – in order to do God’s will.
We sacrifice a need to understand – for a willingness to wait and see.
We sacrifice being heard – in order to listen more carefully to others.
We sacrifice familiarity – in order to grow.
We sacrifice status and reputation – when we are called to do the unexpected or unpopular.
We sacrifice our Free Will – in order that God’s Kingdom can be fulfilled.
We sacrifice our ordinary lives – to do amazing things, out of a spirit of love.

You would be surprised when you consider how many such small acts creep unnoticed into our ordinary days. But, when you realise that our whole lives are one massive chance to offer up acts of love to our Father God, then small acts of sacrifice become opportunities to remind ourselves of the greatest sacrifice ever made – the love of Christ on the Cross.
“What kind of love is this?” asks the beautiful Easter hymn. What kind of love is this, that a strange man died in agony, for my sake, so that I may come to know the Love of God?
What kind of love is this? This is Sacrificial Love.
AMEN