Family Sacrifice

When I think of the fact that I'm to present myself as a sacrifice to God, sometimes I wonder how far that should go. And how much does it involve my family? The great thing about being married to a Godly lady is that she is just as much about that sacrifice as am I. The Bible says that when two people are married, they become "one flesh;" essentially one person. And I'm to lead my children in the way that I know will most glorify God and lead them to a relationship with Him.

What seems to have happened is that in our pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, we put the quest for happiness rather high up on the scale of priorities. Personal and family happiness is good, as long as it doesn't become the end as well as the means to that end. That's being consumed with something other than Christ.

So, in sacrificing my life for Christ, the sacrifice must include my family (sort of by definition). This is what we regularly see in the lives of foreign missionaries (our friends, Phillip and his family, come to mind). But is it what we regularly see in the lives of Christians around us -- and in ourselves?

How far should we go with our sacrifice? Should we stop short of what we know that God wants us to do because it would be inconveniencing our family? Even putting them at risk somehow? If I believe in and honestly trust the God described in Psalm 91, then why would I be worried about what happens to me or my family as a result of obedience?

Have you and I held out on completely surrendering to uncomfortable obedience and servitude to God because that discomfort might impact your family? Is that an excuse that we're allowed to use?

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Stand Firm or Stand Firm?

Basic principle today.

The tail end of Isaiah 7:9 is rendered in a variety of ways over various translations:

"If you will not believe, Surely you shall not be established." (NKJV)
"Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm." (NLT)
"If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all." (NIV)
"If you don't take your stand in faith, you won't have a leg to stand on." (The Message -- a paraphrase)
"And if Ahaz and his officials don't trust me, they will be defeated." (CEV)

If we take this little chunk of Scripture (which is rarely a good idea), the Contemporary English Version, out of the translations above, is the most literal within the context of the whole passage. However, there is definitely a precedent in this one small bit of the passage that applies broadly to the life of the Christ-follower.

In Hebrew, the verse says something like, "If you will not stand firm, then you cannot stand firm," or, "If you will not be true to Me, then you cannot be true to Me."

This is an area I think about on a daily basis during prayer. I've come to learn that there is sometimes a huge difference in asking God to do something for us (like give us new desires) and to do something for us (like give us money to pay a bill that we shouldn't have taken on in the first place). Many times (most of the time?), God requires action of us that will go hand in hand with what He does.

This is borne out all through the Scripture -- when we honor God with the sacrifice of our lives, He will honor us by allowing us to be conduits of His glory. To assume that God will happily jump at the chance to serve us when we are not actively living for Him is essentially asking Him to become our genie or our trick dog.

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Tap Water Coffee

In an effort to save money yet maintain our addiction to coffee, my wife and I recently purchased a regular coffee maker. The pods for our single-cup maker wind up being expensive. Also, we recently removed the water purifier from our kitchen faucet for the sake of looks, and replaced it with a pitcher which filters water.

This morning I poured the last of the purified water into the coffee maker and, as a result of impatience, filled the coffee maker the rest of the way (about 7 cups' worth) with tap water. An eternity of minutes later (a drawback of a coffee maker), the morning haze was broken not by the taste of good, strong coffee, but of a nasty metallic sort of taste that came from the tap water.

The ingredients apparently make a difference.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks of the fact that seemingly bad ingredients can actually result in good. You all probably know about this. For example, "God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth." (Matthew 5:5, NLT)

But shortly after that, He says, "But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!" (Matthew 5:20, NLT)

All the good works (strong coffee grounds) in the whole world will not make up for selfish or grudging motivation (tap water).

I seem to always get back to obedience and surrender. This is not partial stuff we're to do. There are no shortcuts. "Lord, I freely surrender some of these bits and pieces of my life to You. As I hang onto these others for the time being, please be glorified in my life." Betcha that won't work.

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