Sacrifice

November is in full swing and it's still sunny and in the seventies here :)

This was part of the inspiration for last week's post:

We've moved into the second term which means new AMT's (electives) and now tracks are emerging. A track is basically an in-depth elective that will last longer so you can go deeper. I was accepted into the counseling/inner healing track, so I'm excited to be starting that on Tuesday! One thing we'll be talking about is the Sozo ministry at Bethel. I'll be in this track for the remainder of the school year. 

My revival group had our first City Project last Friday, so we got to go to a park and do various feats of physical strength and cleaning. Mine involved wearing a very cool jet-pack (leaf blower) and clearing the path of leaves for an event that weekend:

We just passed a homework milestone, which is the monthly date where they will actually start locking you out of the attendance system if you have missing assignments. Since we don't really have tests at BSSM and there really aren't that many rules either, this is probably the biggest measure put in place to make sure students are actually doing work, not just getting drunk on the Holy Spirit and having worship parties, as awesome as those are. So we've all pretty much settled into a (barely) regular rhythm of reading:

One thing that has been on my mind lately is the idea of sacrifice and how it surfaces in almost every area of our lives. We were saved by a sacrifice and though we no longer have to make physical sacrifices to atone for our sins, we have chances every day to sacrifice to our King. He is certainly worthy of our time, our money, and our to-do lists. I think God enjoys when we "waste" our resources on him. Like when the woman poured a bottle of very expensive perfume on Jesus' head (Matthew 26:7) and he said it was a beautiful thing. The disciples all said "Why this waste?" but they didn't understand that the woman was showing that she was truly willing to give up everything for the Savior of the world. 

David was man who understood sacrifice. He writes in the Psalms, "My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise" (Psalm 51:17). What God really wants is our heart. And Proverbs tells us that everything we do flows from our heart (Proverbs 4:23) so what happens inside will manifest on the outside. One great story from David's life that I've heard taught on a few times here comes from 2 Samuel 24. King David is told to use another guy's land to build an altar to God which will stop a plague on Israel. When he goes to buy the man's land, the man offers to give it to David for free along with cattle for sacrifices because he knows it's for the Lord. But David refuses the gift and says "I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." If love doesn't hurt a little, we're not seeing the full spectrum of love. Sacrificial love is the kind that endures through hardship. 

So we have many chances to sacrifice to God. Not to earn his love but to demonstrate our love in response to His. Sometimes it means giving up our comfort or our reputation. God does not command us to be outcasts but Jesus promised many times that following him would bring hardships. In the end, we are His children who don't need to worry about lacking anything. Our Dad owns it all and he "has been pleased to give [us] the Kingdom" (Luke 12:32). Living for God is not easy but it's joyfully hard.

Our first payment deadline for mission trips is coming up in a couple weeks! It's been so cool to hear the different testimonies of God's provision flowing in. If you want to sow into my trip to South Korea, you can donate here!

This week's song is a good, intimate one: Worthy is the Lamb by Brian Johnson.