I read this statement today that stated that “The Christian life is not about making sacrifices to be holy, it’s about one sacrifice that made you holy.” I don’t know this person or where the statement originated from but I’ll have to respectfully disagree.
Although we are made righteous by the crucifixion of Jesus, we are far from Holy or worthy. Otherwise we would not have been urged in 1 Peter 1:16 “Be ye holy for I am holy.” If we were all ready holy, we would not have been urged to do so. Holy means to be dedicated or consecrated to God for His purpose. We need to make a decision of dedication daily and it isn’t up to the Lord for us to do so- it’s in our will and remains to be our sacrifice.
To give up our will for His will means to give up what we want, where we choose to go or what we choose to do for what He would have us do. This is a sacrifice and often painful. I may want to go on vacation next week but the Lord could be urging me to do hospital visits for someone in need- to be obedient to God is a sacrifice. I may only have $5 in my pocket, starving and on my way to buy a sandwich, but the Lord urges me to give that money away- this is sacrifice. This helps us to become holy.
Every time we sacrifice our will for God’s we make ourselves like Jesus in His ultimate sacrifice. To say that the Christian life isn’t filled with sacrifices means that you aren’t really living a “Christian” lifestyle. 1 Peter 2 clearly shows us that to be holy is a “work” and we must sacrifice to be acceptable to Jesus Christ: “you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
Christian life is a sacrifice- I know I have sacrificed many things for the Lord and I hope I continue to do so. I fail many times, my selfish desires get in the way, but I hope and pray everyday to live my life as a sacrifice as Jesus did. Without sacrifice we are just living how we want and there is no genuine change in us. Aren’t we suppose to change to be a mirror-image of our Holy Father? Isn’t that really the goal here?
Becoming Invincible 