Gifts and Sacrifices
Hebrews 8:3 has been in my spirit lately:
Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices.
We love offering our gifts to God. Offering sacrifices is a little more difficult. But I really believe that our sacrifices is what will ultimately determine our leadership potential.
Think about Jesus. Talk about gifted. He walked on water. He healed the sick. His parables are pure genius. You'd definitely want Him on your debate team. And his emotional intelligence was off the charts. To say that Jesus was gifted is an infinite understatement.
But what do you admire most about Jesus? What are you most grateful for? What has impacted your life the most? It's not His gifts is it? It's His sacrifice on the cross!
I'm certainly not suggesting that we sacrifice family for the sake of ministry. Family is more important than ministry. But the more personal sacrifices leaders make the more of a difference we'll make in people's lives.
I had a great pastor growing up--incredibly gifted. But you know what had the most impact on me? When he visited me in the hospital in the middle of the night.
We all know pastors who are ten talent leaders--amazing gifts. But it's our visible and invisible sacrifices that will make the biggest difference!
Hope that is an encouragement to church planters who are making financial sacrifices to start a church. Hope it's an encouragement to pastors who sacrifice weekends. Hope it's an encouragement to small group leaders who sacrifice so much time and energy discipling people. Hope it's an encouragement to production volunteers who sacrifice a little shut eye on Sunday mornings.
One last thought.
I don't think any of us have ever sacrificed anything for God. If you get back more than you gave up have you really sacrificed anything at all? Sure, we make temporal sacrifices. But they can't even be compared to the eternal rewards.
Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices.
We love offering our gifts to God. Offering sacrifices is a little more difficult. But I really believe that our sacrifices is what will ultimately determine our leadership potential.
Think about Jesus. Talk about gifted. He walked on water. He healed the sick. His parables are pure genius. You'd definitely want Him on your debate team. And his emotional intelligence was off the charts. To say that Jesus was gifted is an infinite understatement.
But what do you admire most about Jesus? What are you most grateful for? What has impacted your life the most? It's not His gifts is it? It's His sacrifice on the cross!
I'm certainly not suggesting that we sacrifice family for the sake of ministry. Family is more important than ministry. But the more personal sacrifices leaders make the more of a difference we'll make in people's lives.
I had a great pastor growing up--incredibly gifted. But you know what had the most impact on me? When he visited me in the hospital in the middle of the night.
We all know pastors who are ten talent leaders--amazing gifts. But it's our visible and invisible sacrifices that will make the biggest difference!
Hope that is an encouragement to church planters who are making financial sacrifices to start a church. Hope it's an encouragement to pastors who sacrifice weekends. Hope it's an encouragement to small group leaders who sacrifice so much time and energy discipling people. Hope it's an encouragement to production volunteers who sacrifice a little shut eye on Sunday mornings.
One last thought.
I don't think any of us have ever sacrificed anything for God. If you get back more than you gave up have you really sacrificed anything at all? Sure, we make temporal sacrifices. But they can't even be compared to the eternal rewards.
2 Comments:
Wow. This spoke to me big time. I'd vote this as one of the best evotional post ever. Thanks.
Sacrifice is a big theme for me at the minute... I don't want to offer God stuff that doesn't cost me anything, because that's not a sacrifice. Worship without sacrifice... is it worth much? But the challenge now is to figure out what sacrifices I need to make. Sometimes, it's just sacrificing an extra 15mins in bed to make it to the prayer meeting.
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