Sacrifice as a measure of love! II
Greetings to you, dear readers of our Daily Word for Spiritual Strength column! I thank God for everyone of you and I pray that you do not become cold in your thirst for the Word of God and His wisdom.
We are continuing talking about what love is and what the measure for our love is.
Love is not feelings, it is self-sacrifice, but self-sacrifice – it is decision.
Of course, there are feelings in love. But, if we love God, our mutual relationships with God do not consist of feelings alone.
The Bible talks about people whom God calls His friends. Why were these people special? All of them proved their love for God with self-sacrifice. They did not afford themselves do many things only because they loved God and longed for friendship with Him.
The level of my self-sacrifice determines how much I love God!
Let us look at the life of Noah.
“The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air-for I am grieved that I have made them.” But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD. This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” (Genesis 6:5-9)
In the times of Noah, people lived the way they wanted; they did what their lusts and feelings dictated. But apart from everybody else, Noah sacrificed his feelings due to his friendship with God, and thus he saved his family.
Why did Noah not live the way others lived? Because he loved God! With his pure and righteous life in the wicked world, Noah showed his love for God. It was more important for Noah what God tells him, than what people do or say. It was more important for Noah to maintain a love relationship with God than to be accepted by people.
The Bible says that Noah built an altar for God after the flood.
“Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.”Genesis 8:20).
This is another way Noah showed his love for God. Everyone who loves God builds an altar for God. When we talk about sacrifice, it is definitely connected with the altar. An altar to God is a sign of your love for God! In his generation, Noah was the only such example. Noah built the altar for God, because he constantly saw God’s grace in his life and in his family’s life and it triggered in him love and gratitude to God.
What are you willing to sacrifice to show God that you love Him? A true sacrifice will always cost us something. Your love for God and readiness to please Him might not be accepted by your relatives or friends; therefore, they can even deny you. Your love for God will require from you a holy life, a change of habits, and many other things. Love for God has nothing in common with sin. Are you still ready to choose the way of loving God and therefore sacrifice everything that you will be asked to? It is something to think about!
If we return to the story about Noah, we know that all the human race, except Noah and his family, was wiped out because of the evil of sin.
„This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
Sin always leads to death. The love that sacrifices itself always gets rewarded, and the main reward is life, filled with meaning and God’s blessings.
May the Lord bless you!
Until tomorrow!
Mācītājs Rufus Adžiboje
