My Sacrifice... and His

Ok, so this may be a little different, but I am sold on finishing showers with cold water.
It's great for getting lazy blood flowing, and for boosting the immune system, they say.  (Not convinced? Try it sometime. It pays, I promise.)  I must admit though that the experience is not always the most enjoyable, and it requires some determination to turn off that hot water.  As I was enduring my invigorating ritual the other day, this thought struck me.   "Strange… Why do we cringe to experience discomfort now when we know we will benefit later, yet so readily indulge in things that we know will cause pain later?"  Instantly my mind began to churn, and the following are the results of my musings...


Think of the sins that Satan pulls this creation into.  Every single one of them offer pleasure for the present, but deliver regret, pain, and sorrow afterwards.  Indulge now, pay later. (Sound familiar?)


Now think of worthy goals or aspirations.  Every one requires sacrifice… Sacrifice of comfort, of convenience, of self.  Discipline.  Patience.  But true satisfaction is the sure result.


The truth is, human nature does not like sacrifice.  We cringe.  We vacillate. We consider giving up because it's just "too hard."  Could it be that the enemy has fooled us into weighing the price against our feelings, rather than the reward?  Maybe that is why in the Bible and in our daily experiences we see so many examples of the principle of suffering first, enduring reward later.* It may be God's antidote for our malady.  


“And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.  I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”  I Corinthians 9:25-27

*****

Just to set this straight, running this race is not all about a golden crown and a mansion.  If it is, the counterfeits of this world will sooner be the objects of our devotion.


It takes love... Love stronger than temptation... Love stronger than death.


The love that spent thirty-three years practicing this principle that I am talking about so that he could sacrifice his very life.


The love that in dark Gethsemane chose to forgo life, the universe, His Father... for oblivion,


So that all we have to sacrifice is the things that will pass away... for eternal paradise.


What is my sacrifice?  I am shaken, I am ashamed. Lord, let me mingle my tears with Yours, and my sweat drops with Your bloody ones.  Heaven is cheap enough.

“Therefore brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live…For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Romans 8:12,13,18


“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Heb. 12:1,2


*Read Desire of Ages p.148.3