The Price to Follow

"Then King David said to Ornan, "No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings with that which cost me nothing."" 

1 Chronicles 21:24

     Sacrifice, a word we commonly use, but what does it mean?

Things of worth, have a price. The better the quality, the higher the price. The more time or work involved in something, the higher the price. We know this to be true in the dealings of physical things in life; yet when it comes to spiritual things, we often times think differently. If we would sacrifice, giving up something precious, we should expect there to be a price attached.

Within a continent far from home, many miles from all that is familiar I am beginning to learn what sacrifice looks like. Its easy to use such a word within the comforts of your precious possessions surrounding you, but when they are left behind, and you are standing alone, just yourself, before the alter, sacrifice takes on its true meaning. We are told in Romans to present yourself as a living sacrifice to the Lord, in response to His sacrifice for us. Presenting yourself as a sacrifice opens the doorway to tests that try your faith, and leave you with the option to receive the help of the Ornan's in your life, or to press on in the midst of the heat and the flames and continue to give. Giving requires a price, giving has a cost. 

     The love of God has a cost. It cost Him his life. It required He leave His heavenly home, the reputation of His position upon His throne, to take on the flesh and lifestyle of mankind, to give of his time, to live among us, to minister to the sick and needy, to teach and lead, and than to lay down His life. He paid the cost of our sins--and such a cost required much sacrifice.

The word cost, comes from the Latin word, "constare" meaning to stand firm, stand at a price.

As we pay the costs required in presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice, we can be assured that the price gives way to blessings in Christ. Through the sacrifice of Christ, life came, and glorification; and as we follow in His steps, we can be assured that through our sacrifice of self, life in Christ will come, and we will learn to stand. Paying for something gives it a lasting worth. 

I believe that Christ requires us to offer of ourselves as a living sacrifice to keep our hearts and minds continually sensitive to the worth of our salvation. Gifts can quickly be forgotten, but something that requires of you, will allow that thing to take on worth to you.

By sacrificing our own desires, we are given a taste for our Savior sacrificed for us. 

     Application for myself, I am personally before a threshing floor in my life, at this time it is called Africa. Not that Africa is a struggle in itself, but it isn't home. This is a season in my life that God has asked of me to sacrifice my love for my home, to take on life within a new place for a time. It could be easy to think, "Ok, I've come, i am at the threshing floor", and look for the easy way out, look for the Ornan in my life, but to walk in the footsteps of my Lord, continual sacrifice is required. Therefore, i do not wish for Him to take away the feelings that I am encountering, the homesickness, the struggles, the tests, but to present them as a sacrifice of myself, to lay it before the alter that I may grow nearer to my God. That i may learn more of sacrifice, more of the worth of this salvation in which i stand. 

Thank you God for meeting me with mercy within Your threshing floor. 

Author of sacrifice, please teach me.