Why We Must Surrender and Sacrifice Daily in Order to Know Jesus More
Tears streamed down my face as those radical, counter-cultural words leapt off the pages of the book in my hand, piercing my heart and awaking something inside of me. I sat in the midst of prosperity and entitlement at a beautiful resort on the gulf coast, sitting by a pool, soaking in the southern sun.
There I was, surrounded by comfort and ease, reading a book that made my heart yearn for something completely different.
I was reading a book that told the story of individuals who were willing to sacrifice everything to bring the gospel into unknown places. They sacrificed their comfort, culture, wants, and ultimately, even their lives in order to follow the call of Christ to “make disciples of all nations.”
My heart burned with the desire to have that same relationship with Christ. I yearned to love Jesus and His gospel so earnestly that I could truly say, along with the saints and missionaries of the past, “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
As we read books about famous missionaries or read the stories of the disciples from the Bible, it is easy to claim we will pour our lives out for the sake of the gospel just as they have.
However, if we are called to be missionaries in our own country, as so many of us are, it can be difficult to know what that radical surrender and sacrifice looks like in our first-world context.
After all, in a country like the United States, known for its comfort and ease, how can we stretch ourselves?
How can we put ourselves in places of discomfort while living in our comfortable houses, shopping in our comfortable stores, and eating our comfortable food?
How can we be grateful for our many blessings, while also pushing ourselves to grow in new ways?
The call of the …
