LOVE AND SACRIFICE

The greatest gift you can give anyone is love and because God first loved us, He showed us tremendous love by sending us His only begotten son, Jesus Christ. Jesus sealed the love deal by giving up His life for us, just so our sins can be forgiven and have eternal life. Love begets sacrifice and there is no sacrifice without love. God loves us so much that He sacrificed His only son for us and His son, Jesus, sacrificed His life for us because He loves us. The stories of Jephtah  and his daughter and that of Abraham and his son Isaac are but a few of stories that epitomize the love and sacrifice connection.

The same applies to we modern day Christians, we must love God with all our heart, thus, we should offer Him the best sacrifice always. Best sacrifice is not necessarily blood sacrifice or expensive things, it could be our time, energy, money, skill or even talent. We must always give God all the best that we have, not what we have to spare. We should also know that when sacrificing unto God, we must do so with a willing and cheerful heart, not a heart filled with resentment. A sacrifice from a resentful heart is meaningless.

It is true that sometimes the sacrifice might seem too complicated or absurd, but God always knows best and the will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not follow. Also in such moments, remember the story of Abraham and Isaac. I know their story obviously sounds cliché now, but the truth still remains, Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. It hurts when you sacrifice, but God will soothe your pain and even put you in a better place than you were initially. Prosperity in Christ is not all about physical things like money, cars and mansions, it’s about unspeakable joy and peace in your heart and life. Yes there will be temptation because Satan will try and make you lose your faith. There will also be harsh times, just know that when these harsh times are over, you will assure yourself that your faith in God has endured them all, just read James 1:2-3. It’s amazing how much God loves us, count your blessings, try naming them one by one and you will see your doubts and sorrows getting obliterated.

Salvation is free, just repent, confess and invite Christ into your heart. Then show the whole world this by getting baptized. Mind you, baptism will not get you to heaven; it is just a sign to show the world that you are now a follower of Christ. It is just like a wedding ring on a wedding finger. The ring is on the finger just to tell the world that a person is married and belongs to someone, without it one can still get married. There are people who do not include the exchange of rings in their wedding ceremony and rather opt for exchange of bibles, necklace, coins and even message in a bottle, so the ring is just a symbol. However, if it was important for Christ to get baptised when He was here on earth, then it is important for us to do so. Salvation is what assures you of eternal life, so please invite Christ into your heart. Love God whole heartedly and spread His message of love and hope by any means you can, through one on one conversations, songs and even social media.

Sacrifice willingly and cheerfully unto God always, remember, He first loved us. God has given us free will, so the choice is in our hands, we sin because we want to, and so we can change and please God if we want to.  So where do you stand in this end time? It’s your call!