A friend recently asked me if love hurt. I replied, "No, love does not hurt. Sacrifice hurts." Love is a powerful emotion that humans feel, and sacrifice is a powerful action that humans do. Sacrifice means giving up something you love for something you love more. Sacrifice is painful. It constitutes giving up something that we love. To humans, this is painful. Love does not call us to do anything. Love is a feeling. Sacrifice is something that comes out of love. As closely related as the two are, they are different. Sacrifice is made from love.
Romans 5:8 says, "But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." This verse is powerful. Love is an emotion. It is not painful, but it changes what sacrifice means for us. If Christ did not love us as much as He loved His throne in Heaven, He would have sacrificed us and let us die so that He could stay seated; but He loved us so much that He sacrificed His life, stood up from His seat, and laid down His life for us. This is a perfect example of love and sacrifice. Love is a feeling, and sacrifice is an action to represent the love that ones has. God could have easily loved us and never come for us, but He wanted us to see the love that He has for us.
As Christians, we will be going to Heaven one day. In Heaven, we are sacrificing nothing but we are still in love with God. We will probably be more in love with God in Heaven than we are here on Earth. I am saying this to show that we can love without sacrifice. Until then, sacrifice is a part of our daily lives and God calls us to sacrifice the world in order to obtain Him.
This is how we should sacrifice. "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." (Romans 12:1) We are called to sacrifice the world in order to live for God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Again, sacrifice is giving up something you love for something you love greater. If you are to follow this verse, you are saying that you love God greater than you love the world and the things in it. God will know your heart and He will know if it is true sacrifice. If it is true sacrifice, you will be able to do it willingly, because the love you have for God will strengthen you to go on.
-D
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