Sacrificial Living

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”-John 15:13-

You hear about them occasionally: real-life heroes who sacrifice themselves for others. They pay the ultimate price by giving up their very lives. A soldier on the foreign battlefield. A firefighter rushing into a burning building. A concerned passerby who steps into harm’s way. The stories become legends. Monuments are built with pride. It’s the stuff greatness is made of. Some of their names we know and remember; others died in obscurity. Still, they are heroes just the same.
Hebrews 11 has come to be known as the “faith chapter” of the Bible, listing mighty heroes of old like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We read about Joseph and Moses. We see recognizable names like Gideon, Samson, and mighty King David.
Then we read about others. Faceless people whose names we may never know, but heroes nonetheless. We read about how they “were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated” (Hebrews 11:35-37). And then we read this short commendation: “The world was not worthy of them” (vs. 38).
I don’t know all that Jesus will ask of you as you follow Him. I don’t know what denying yourself will look like in your lifetime. Forsaking pleasure, sure. Letting go of recognition and applause, quite possibly. Denying god’s of lust and power? Certainly. Laying down your very life? Perhaps, I don’t know. But I do know this: If your life comes to that, your sacrifice will be worth it. And one day, when Jesus returns, you’ll be counted among those who triumph over the accuser, who “did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” (see Revelation 12:10-11). And Jesus Himself will commend you. Well Done.

DENYING TODAY
You don’t have to read too many headlines to know that Christians around the world are being persecuted for their faith. Pray today for our persecuted brothers and sisters. Pray that they will sense God’s presence and feel connected to the greater body of Christ. Pray for their boldness to make Christ known. Pray that they will forgive and love their persecutors. Pray that they will rejoice in suffering and be refreshed through God’s Word and grow in their faith. Pray that they’ll be strengthened through the prayers of fellow believers. And pray that they’ll experience God’s comfort when their family members are killed, injured, or imprisoned for their witness. (Consider visiting the “Voice of the Martyrs” website, www.persecution.com, for more information regarding the persecuted church.)