sacrifice

i was doing a word study last night on the word "sacrifice". i chased the rabbit back to psalm 50. the main nugget i took away from my study is that we offer sacrifices to God and then we forget the significance of the sacrifice so easily. as followers of Christ we must realize that we are giving up everything to follow Jesus because a true sacrifice is giving something that costs. most of us would agree that our lives are things we place a high value upon. the great thing about our faith is that Jesus says we are to give up our lives for His sake and for the Gospel and then you will actually save your life (Mark 8:35). yet, still it seems like we are so unwilling to give up comforts and habits that make our lives easy but steer us further from a Christ-centered life.

Jesus never said this whole thing we call life as a follower of Him was going to be easy. i was reading an interview with Francis Chan where he spoke about the commitment to follow Christ that Christians have made. he says this:
"Jesus almost gave an anti-altar call. 'are you sure you're supposed to be here? maybe you should leave because you don't understand the commitment to hate your father, mother, wife, kids. you still want to be here? pick up your cross and follow me.' Jesus preached sacrifice."

Jesus preached sacrifice. Jesus preached SACRIFICE!! sacrifice.