There's Requiring and There's Offering
"As Mothers, we sacrifice from the moment the stick shows a line. We change our eating habits and become inhabited. Paul wrote in Romans 12:1, 'I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.'
There's not much choice when you're pregnant. And much of mothering out of the womb requires sacrificing different pieces of yourself - your time, your sense of order, your priorities.
But there's requiring, and there's offering. And that's where God is in our sacrifice.
Abraham offered his son Isaac to God when he asked (Genesis 22). A poor widow offered all the money she had to live on to the temple treasury (Mark 12:41-44). Paul offered his health, safety, and freedom for the cause of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:23-28).
None of those acts was done in disgust. All were done for God.
When God offered his son Jesus to the world, it was to give us a chance to repent and dedicate our lives to him (John 3:16). Sacrifice is a symbol of holiness, not a punishment. We draw nearer to the character of Christ when we're offering.
Sometimes I think the big ones are easier. . . So why is it harder to stomach sacrifice when it just involves a child's stomach lurching all night? Or simply a change in our plans?
We are still whom they need. We are still the woman God wants to love on that child, in that way, at this time.
Could it be perhaps that there are so. . . many. . .times?
We have love. We don't always have the sleep, patience, money, or answers mothering seems to require. So we offer what we have, in love. We ask God for the rest (and the rest). And because 'Love bears all things, believes all things, hope all things, endures all things' (1 Corinthians 13:7 ESV), we can keep offering.
'If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ' (1 Peter 4:11).
When we sacrifice, something is being done for us, not to us. We're being given a chance to grow closer to the holiness of God."
-"Always There"; Susan Besze Wallace; pp.50-51
Perspective is everything. . . when we think of our personal sacrifice for our families as an offering to God instead of a drudgery, it becomes an act of worship which keeps us focused on the person of Christ and helps us to be more like Him.
There's not much choice when you're pregnant. And much of mothering out of the womb requires sacrificing different pieces of yourself - your time, your sense of order, your priorities.
But there's requiring, and there's offering. And that's where God is in our sacrifice.
Abraham offered his son Isaac to God when he asked (Genesis 22). A poor widow offered all the money she had to live on to the temple treasury (Mark 12:41-44). Paul offered his health, safety, and freedom for the cause of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:23-28).
None of those acts was done in disgust. All were done for God.
When God offered his son Jesus to the world, it was to give us a chance to repent and dedicate our lives to him (John 3:16). Sacrifice is a symbol of holiness, not a punishment. We draw nearer to the character of Christ when we're offering.
Sometimes I think the big ones are easier. . . So why is it harder to stomach sacrifice when it just involves a child's stomach lurching all night? Or simply a change in our plans?
We are still whom they need. We are still the woman God wants to love on that child, in that way, at this time.
Could it be perhaps that there are so. . . many. . .times?
We have love. We don't always have the sleep, patience, money, or answers mothering seems to require. So we offer what we have, in love. We ask God for the rest (and the rest). And because 'Love bears all things, believes all things, hope all things, endures all things' (1 Corinthians 13:7 ESV), we can keep offering.
'If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ' (1 Peter 4:11).
When we sacrifice, something is being done for us, not to us. We're being given a chance to grow closer to the holiness of God."
-"Always There"; Susan Besze Wallace; pp.50-51
Perspective is everything. . . when we think of our personal sacrifice for our families as an offering to God instead of a drudgery, it becomes an act of worship which keeps us focused on the person of Christ and helps us to be more like Him.
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