There are some really cool sayings that we hold dear at LifeChurch and in our DNA. Things like: “We are faith-filled, big-thinking, bet-the-farm risk-takers” (#1), and “We will do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ” (#5). But my favorite of all time is about sacrifice:
“We give up things we love for things we love even more.” -LifeChurch.tv Core Value #3
This has changed how I think about sacrifice. It’s … freeing.
If there is a single thing I needed to learn from LC, this was it. I always felt like giving (of my time, my money, my talents, my anything) was an obligation to be fulfilled.
But — here’s a revelation for me: God doesn’t want to make you miserable. You have a passion for something in God’s heart — even if you haven’t found it yet. And giving yourself to that passion won’t feel like an obligation you do so you won’t feel guilty, but something you love so much, you couldn’t imagine giving or doing anything else.
Every time I’ve been in the center of my passion, I’ve had moments where I felt like, “Why am I doing this? I could be doing something else.”
Then 20 seconds later the thought that immediately follows is: “Because I love this so much more than that.”
It’s a sacrifice to give up something you love. But when you sacrifice for something you love even more? It doesn’t feel like a sacrifice.
It feels like this is the way it was meant to be.