Sacrifice

Close your eyes and imagine for a moment that you’ve raised a pet calf or lamb since it was a newborn. You’ve fed it by hand with a bottle and later with solid food every day of its life. You’ve cared for it through sickness and health. You’ve protected it from predators. You’ve sheltered it from bad weather. You’ve named it and it knows the sound of your voice. It comes to you when you call. It is a part of your household…a part of your family.

Now imagine that you are told you must take a knife to its throat and take its life for some wrong you’ve done.

When the moment comes you clasp your hand over its mouth and raise its head. You slide your other arm over it and put the blade of your knife to its exposed throat. You have to firmly hold it in place while you press your knife to its flesh. It doesn’t move because it trusts you. You then feel the flesh rip open as you draw your knife across its throat opening its veins and arteries; its esophagus and wind pipe. You hear it cry out and feel its body shudder in your hands and arms. Blood spills from its throat. You feel the shock and the terror it experiences at its life being taken by a trusted caregiver. You hear it gasp for its last breath and you feel the life pour out as blood spills over the ground at your feet. You have to tighten your grasp to hold it in place. In a few moments, that seem longer, it finally relaxes and goes limp as the last nervous reflex is spent. Its lifeless body slumps in your arms.

You’ve just taken a life to pay for something you did… Disobedience is something you now realize earns death. You feel the loss of the pet you’ve raised since birth. It had to die because of your disobedience. It took your place. The seriousness of your act is pressed home by the life you’ve just taken to pay for it. That’s how a sacrifice should feel…personal.

Now imagine that the very Son of God steps out of eternity into a mortal body to walk among us. His love for us is so great that He offers Himself up as a sacrifice for our disobedience. A part of the Eternal God who created everything we can perceive, who created you, a speck of dust, on a planet that is one of billions in a galaxy that is one of billions in an unimaginably endless universe. You, this speck of dust, are so important to God that He was willing to submit to that cruelty, to that humiliation, out of love…for you. Disobedience to Gods law is that serious. That is a part of the Gospel, the Good News, of God to mankind.

To accept that sacrifice, to feel the loss personally, to accept responsibility for the actions that demanded it…that’s what we are called to do in calling ourselves Christians. Our calling goes beyond that though. Our calling is to return to obedience to our Creator. That’s what repentance means…to return to obedience. He gave us His law as a gift for our good. His law is proof of His love for us. Our obedience to His law demonstrates our willingness to accept His authority in our lives. Obedience was never intended to ‘earn’ salvation…it's not a salvation issue…it's an issue of Love for our Creator. It’s also an issue of love for ourselves and our fellow man. Breaking Gods laws often ends up hurting someone else and it always ends up hurting us.

Sin, disobedience to Gods law, is so repugnant to Him that He wants to impress it upon us in the most precious thing we have…our life’s blood. It is our blood that is demanded after all. His love for us is so great that He gave His own in our place.

That act doesn’t do away with the need to keep the law of God…it does away with the penalty for breaking it. The sacrifice of Jesus the Christ doesn’t do away with the need for Gods law in our lives. It was not a license to disregard it. We are still bound to obedience to God. Our disregard of Gods law is disrespect for Christ’s sacrifice.

Christ’s very first words when He began His ministry were: ”Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” He’s already made the sacrifice. He gave His life's blood to give you the chance to atone with God. What are you prepared to do for Him?