“In our modern culture where the goal is to have it all, do it all, and be it all, the notion of sacrifice usually conjures thoughts of distaste…When we view acquisition as an antidote for all ills, it is easy to forget about sacrifice as a profound practice for renewing relationships with God, self, and others. The word sacrifice comes from a verb meaning “to make sacred.” Through a regular practice of sacrifice, we make room for the sacred to enter our lives and the world.
As a practice, sacrifice means intentionally leaving from the safety of sustaining our own needs as an affirmation of trust in God’s provisions. In this meaning we connect with generosity. Being generous gently loosens our grip on the money, things, and people we hold captive with our expectations, clamoring for security, and need to control…To be generous we must willingly sacrifice, live with an open heart and open hands, and stretch beyond what we thought we could offer…
Find a few ways this week where you can act generously in a manner that stretches you…Give twice as much as you usually do and find ways to cut other spending to cover the cost…Another way to live generously is to act with respect and compassion toward others rather than with anger or spite…What is important is not simply denying ourselves something or even giving things to people and to God. It’s being vulnerable to the Spirit and giving wholly to God and—through God’s guidance—to others. When sacrifice and generosity work together, we give in faith what we have and who we are for the sake of whose we are—God’s.”
Tacy Holliday in “Sacrifice isn’t giving up, it’s giving to God” Herald Magazine, Community of Christ blogpost on October 16, 2010.