Sacrificing for the Sake of the Gospel

Remember my past journal entry about contentment?  I want to share with you what God has been teaching me in this struggle.  I have been finding that an antidote to discontentment lies in an attitude of sacrifice.  Let me explain.  At the root of discontentment is a sense of entitlement.  We are not getting something that we believe we should be getting.  In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul speaks about sacrificing for the sake of the Gospel - about adopting a different, even inconvenient, style of life in order that the Gospel might be made known.  I believe that therein lies the secret to contentment.  What we might view as inconveniences are actually an occasion for us to die to our flesh.  Any difficulty that comes our way is a chance to surrender our fleshly desires to God.  "No," you might object, "how could an inconvenience be for the sake of the Gospel?"  I believe it can be because how we respond to an inconvenience is a perfect opportunity for the Gospel to be made manifest in our lives.  We ourselves are God's witnesses to display Christ to the world.  As we die to our flesh and Christ sanctifies us, we better reflect His glory to the world and the Gospel is displayed through us.

This is what God has been challenging me in: to live a life of sacrifice.  Let me be clear.  We live in a culture that is infatuated with rights.  We believe that we are all entitled to a life of a plentiful wardrobe, a comfortable, spacious home, a yearly vacation, and certainly the right to make our own decisions about how we spend our time.  I'm not saying that we don't have these rights.  I'm not saying that doing these things is wrong, but my question is this: What rights will we sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel?  Paul certainly had the right to eat, drink, and get married, but he says that he is sacrificing these rights for the Gospel (1 Corinthians 9).  I certainly have the right to live near my family, get to know my own new brother, eat food I like, exercise, clean my clothing the way I prefer, use the Internet when I wish, and make my own decisions about how I spend my day, but these are all things that I get the opportunity to sacrifice right now.

Sacrifice for each of us will look different. It can mean giving up resources, time, preferences, or rights, but whatever it is, remember it is not a true sacrifice if it is easy.  Take for example, the widow and her two copper coins (Mark 12:41-44).  This woman gave up the financial means she needed to survive.  She certainly had the right to keep that money, it was hers after all and she needed it, but, she gave it up for God.  Sacrifice always involves a surrender, a stripping away, but Jesus assures us that all that what we give up in this lifetime will be abundantly repaid in the next (Mark 10:29-31).  So let us live with our eyes on eternity.  Let us deny ourselves, our rights, and our desires so that the Gospel might be made manifest in our lives and proclaimed to the world.