Sacrifice

Philippians 3:8 Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for His sake I have suffered loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.

This verse really convicted me. I let myself become absorbed by the tangible, my possessions, friendships, and people. I begin to value these things more than my relationship with Jesus. This becomes evident in the ways I spend my time. I put value into my time and what I do with it shows what I care about. I used to spend hours upon hours on my phone doing nothing but scrolling and scrolling through useless junk that I’ll honestly never remember. I used to put more value in material things than in my relationship with God and that was something I was convicted of when I first came to IGNITE.

Being here has really taught me that my first and foremost desire in my life should be for God. I should be willing and even desire to sacrifice everything to Him. To count my personal possessions as worthless in comparison to my relationship with Him. I should yearn to spend time with God and quite honestly, time shouldn’t even be something I have to sacrifice or die to.  A question I must ask myself is would I sacrifice this to God? Would I give up this thing or this possession, this friendship, my time to Jesus if He asked me?  Dying truly to myself shouldn’t make me miserable. To quote Calvary Road by Roy Hession: “Because the more we know of death with Him the more we shall know of His life in us, and more of real peace and joy.” I should count loosing possessions, friendships, and my free time as joy if it brings me closer to Christ.

Application:  I will sacrifice my free time tomorrow morning and spend all of it in the Word when I would normally spend it on my phone or socializing.