Sacrifice Cost Something

When you resolve to go all in on Kingdom-living, you are surrendering everything to Jesus and trusting that he will provide all that you need. You’ll find yourself looking at everything through a kingdom lens, seeing people as objects of God’s mercy and love rather than subjects of your judgment. You’ll see opportunities to give generously with joy rather than with anxiety. You’ll see your time as a tool to be leveraged in God’s kingdom rather than a scarcity to be preserved. But too often we settle for half-hearted living where we will give God a few hours on a Sunday and the left-overs we have in our busy lives (if we even have leftovers to give). We cannot wrap our minds around what is left to give because we constantly overfill our calendars and budgets. So, in the off chance we find some leftovers or we can move things around, we may be able to squeeze in some half-hearted giving. This is a backwards mentality to the way God calls us to live. Jesus tells us to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33, NIV). What would it look like to fill your schedule with Kingdom work first, and then add in the left-overs? Instead of viewing your job as a way to make money, look at it through a kingdom-lens. Who has God put in your path to share the love of Jesus with? How can you invest in Kingdom relationships within your workplace? How does he want you to use the money you are making to bless other people? Look at the way you spend your time. What needs to be removed to make way for you to give yourself to others? How can you use your time as a resource in the Kingdom of God?  The people of God are marked by whole-hearted, kingdom-driven living. So, if this is true, we must ask the hard question: Are we the people of God? Discussion/Reflection Question: What is your life marked by? Pray over your budget and your schedule this week and ask God how you might seek his Kingdom first and foremost.

If I raise my tithe, how will I pay my mortgage? If I invest in my small group outside of student ministry, how will I have time to myself? If I quit my job, how will I support my family? We’ve most likely all asked similar questions as we’ve been confronted with God’s command to sacrifice. But if I sacrifice this, what will happen? How? When? Where? What? We want to know that we will still be taken care of if we make the sacrifice God is asking, but part of the sacrifice is trusting in God’s character. He promises to equip us, provide for us, and strengthen us, so that we have all we need to accomplish his purpose. We want our decisions to be logical, strategic, and planned. So does God! But his logic, strategy, and plan will often look vastly different than what our human minds can conceive. We almost want to bargain with God: “Okay, I’ll sacrifice this, but you need to pay me back because if you don’t, I can’t buy groceries for my family this week.” We are worried that God will forget about us, leave us empty-handed, or watch us fall flat on our faces. While God doesn’t promise those things won’t happen, he does promise to provide what we need, when we need it. When God asks us to engage in his work, he isn’t asking us to go alone. He’s asking to go where he’s already gone ahead. He’s asking us to join him where he already is. God is faithful in keeping his promises. If he is asking us to sacrifice, he will provide what we need. It may not look like what we expected or even hoped, but the question we must wrestle with is this: Do you trust that Christ is enough?  DISCUSSION/REFLECTION QUESTIONS: How have you seen God provide for you in times of need throughout your life?