blog - posted on February 20, 2023 by Rip

Love Requires Sacrifice

I saw something beautiful at the gym today that almost made me want to cry. This is my 3rd time seeing it, so I know it happens on a more consistent basis: I saw 2 brothers (or cousins, I’m assuming they’re family), one was blind and the other one was helping guide him; guide his walking, guiding him where to grab the weights. He even walked him over to the urinal so the blind brother could use the bathroom in the locker room (this all is very reminiscent of when my uncle took my Dad in after his stroke.) But it was just the purest form of Love and I had such an awe and respect for these brothers. Why is Love so powerful and beautiful??

Because: LOVE REQUIRES SACRIFICE.

No matter how you chop it. Love requires sacrifice. Whether it’s your children, your spouse, your family members. Whoever it may be. It requires your sacrifice to love them. A sacrifice of your time, your money, your sleep, your wants, your desires. You can’t love without sacrificing something of your own.

This is why Jesus, as God incarnate, sacrificed Himself. No one forced Him. He laid down His life willingly, as He made clear speaking about His life: “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again” (John 10:18). Glory to God.

And this is ALSO why, if we are to love not only God but our neighbors too, we must die to ourselves and lay our own lives down. See, our lives aren’t about ourselves. This is why everyone who rejects Jesus doesn’t want to accept Him. Because they know what is required: Sacrifice of self. They want their pride, they want their greed, they want their lusts, and sexual immorality. This is also why we don’t need to “love ourselves before we could love others”. That’s the biggest lie ever told by the world. In fact, if we love ourselves, we CAN’T love others.

I say all this because by nature our flesh is very selfish, mine included. But I’m inspired every day by acts or TRUE LOVE and it only motivates me to want to get to that place as well. Lord, help me to continue to die to myself. I can only do it by Your strength.

Let’s start loving others, doing what’s best for them without regard for ourselves

God bless; hope this message blesses u today.