Have you ever made a sacrifice? I have. Was it a life changing event? For me it was not for the one that I made sacrifices for it probably was life extending. Do you know anyone who made the greatest sacrifice? I do. Why do you think that people are willing to make a sacrifice for the sake of someone else? Does a sacrifice bring hope? I think sacrifices do bring hope. Let us see what I have learned about sacrifices.
I am writing this on Memorial Day. It is a holiday that we remember all of the people who gave their life so that we might have the freedoms that are afforded us here in the United States of America. Men and woman died in wars defending our country and the things that our country was founded upon, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Please notice it is not happiness that we were founded upon but the pursuit of it.
As great a sacrifice that these thousands of men and women made by giving up their lives it is not even close to the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. These men and women gave their lives for freedom, liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness. Jesus gave up His life that mankind might have eternal life. Hebrews 9:12 explains, “He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” (ESV) along with Philippians 2:8-9, “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (ESV) I see that Jesus’ death on the cross was not for some people but it was for all. It was a sacrifice that not only benefits us as we live our lives today as the men and women who died for us does but it was also so we might have eternal life which Jesus explains in John 17:1b-3, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (ESV) To me there is no greater hope than to know that I will live eternally knowing personally the only true God and Jesus Christ.
Join me in making sacrifices for the good of others. Chose to believe in the greatest sacrifice of all time, the death of Jesus on the cross to take away the sins of mankind. All you need to do is accept Jesus. It is by far the greatest choice you will ever make. Understanding that you will live eternally knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ and this what brings the greatest hope all because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfying the penalty for sins. His payment satisfies all my sins from the past, in the present and in the future. My penalty and yours was satisfied on the cross by the death of Jesus, God’s greatest act of love and wrath, who became sin for me and you. It was also God’s greatest act of faithfulness because “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (ESV) Because holiness shows us, we need to believe in Jesus. I hope that you join me in helping others to choose Jesus.
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