There is a story from the early 1900s that tells of a lawyer who visited Korea with a missionary as his guide. They happened to pass by an old man steering a plow as he tilled his field. Instead of an ox, his sons pulled the plow. “They must be very poor,” the lawyer commented.

“Yes,” the missionary replied. “When the community was unable to get the money they needed to finish building the church, they sold their only ox to raise the funds.”

“That was a real sacrifice,” the lawyer said quietly.

“They did not call it that,” the missionary replied. “They felt fortunate to have an ox they could sell.”

This story makes me think about how I view what I offer to the Lord. It is typical to feel burdened, denied and stifled when asked to give to the cause of God, but I want to view it for what it is—a privilege. Especially in the light of the cross, there is no sacrifice. Anything I offer is only a drop in the bucket of eternity to express my gratitude for the love of God that has been poured out in unceasing torrents for mankind.

When Jesus stepped down from His throne and gave up streets of gold and the adoration of angels for the rejection of men, to wander the highways and byways of Galilee without a place to lay His head, each step was a sacrifice that accumulated value to you and me. Every hour He lived, every self-denial, every trial and disappointment on the path to the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane was one more piece of Himself that He laid upon the altar of sacrifice. Each jarring humiliation, vilifying misrepresentation and cruel mutilation He suffered until His last breath on the cross demonstrated that Jesus thought any sacrifice was worth His mission to save mankind.

I don’t have much money or other value to offer, but I am fortunate and privileged that God simply desires a living sacrifice for His mission.

What is it your privilege to sacrifice for the mission of Christ?

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