Sacrifice?
I had a fantastic conversation this morning on the heels of hosting our Q4 Tithe Foundation Grant Night. These nights have been incredible. We see leaders from so many backgrounds and industries come together under a common mission: to honor God with our work and love our neighbors with the proceeds. We give together. We celebrate the work that will be accomplished with the fuel. We connect with those within the ministries in which the work will be carried out. We connect with each other and learn about the ways that God is moving through our various businesses. We remind ourselves who our work is for, why it’s important, and encourage each other along the journey.
My conversation this morning was in regard to how often the blessings that come with a Kingdom focus and eternal mindset seem so backwards when compared to how our earthly focus and temporary mindset can train us to think. I used to think that giving was a “sacrifice.” I used to think it was noble to sacrifice for others, as if giving of myself was for them and I was losing something. For those of you who have experienced this, you may know where I’m going with this article.
The feeling of freely giving has been described by many before. It can be an irreplaceable feeling. When we freely give of our time, energy, talent, and resources, we often experience unexplainable joy, especially when the gift is something we’re specifically doing within our own giftings.
We’ve all been made specifically and on purpose by God. When the innate skills we possess come out in service of another, we feel more connected to that person and that action. It doesn’t feel like effort. It doesn’t feel like sacrifice. It feels good. It fills us up, and it serves more than just the immediate need in front of us. It fuels our soul.
In Matthew 10:8 Jesus says, “Freely you have received; freely give.” We have all received good gifts from God that are contained within us. We feel it deep inside our spirit and have a desire to be useful within it. When we give it away, it’s never sacrifice. We gain more than we could ever imagine. We gain life itself in its truest sense.
What is our life but the time we’ve been allotted, our available energy to do good work, and our desire to make an impact with the strengths and skills that we’ve come to understand? Our life is not our possessions. Jesus also states in Luke 12:15 “…life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” We are not our house, our car, our office building, or even the way we look. In Matthew 6:25 Jesus states, “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?”
When we freely give, we are accessing something deeper inside the Kingdom of God. We’re accessing our truest identity in Christ. It’s why the feeling supersedes any reward or recognition. It is greater than any paycheck or bonus. It’s a transfer of life from the temporary to the eternal. Don’t believe me? Let’s check out a couple more from King Jesus.
In Luke 9:24 Jesus states “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”
And again, what is our life? In my humble opinion, it is our time, our resources, and the accumulation of the choices that we make with them while we have the chance. What does it mean to lose our life to save it? Another from Jesus…
In Luke 9:24 we see Jesus state whoever loses his life…FOR ME. We see that same phrase in another parable.
In Matthew 25:40 Jesus states “The King will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did FOR ME.”
Whatever you did for the least, you did FOR ME. Whoever loses their life FOR ME will save it. So let me ask again: when we lose our life for Christ, when we freely give of what we’ve been given, when our time, our energy, and our resources are given so that others can gain access to the knowledge of the King and the truth…is that sacrifice? Or are we gaining more than our wildest dreams could imagine? Are we gaining something we can’t yet fully understand?
In 1 Timothy 6:18-19 the apostle Paul writes this: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
I’ll part with this final thought. Freely giving of ourselves is not a sacrifice. When we freely give, we put down what is temporary and we pick up what will last forever. We set down the things of this world, and we pick up the life everlasting in Christ. When we do for the least, we do it for Christ. We gain a greater and deeper love that we feel here and now, and yet can’t fully comprehend.
If you’re reading this and would like to step into your gifts in a larger way, reach out. There could be an opportunity for you to use your gifts within Tithe Foundation, your business, or something else. If I can be a resource to point you in the right direction, I will.
God Bless You.
-Mark