In the kingdom of God, mathematics are a whole lot different - addition doesn't always mean more and subtraction doesn't always mean less. The way we apply this in our life will greatly determine the level of success we will achieve in our lifetime. Jesus once taught us that in order to follow Him and gain greater purpose, provision and placement, we need to sacrifice a whole lot of things.
We live in a world that wants you to believe that you need more of everything. More money, more cars, more fame, more likes or more followers. But Godly principles will show us that more isn't always better. In fact, in many ways less is more and more is less.
One way we see this applied is in Matthew 16:25 where Jesus said, "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Here Jesus talked to His disciples lining up for them the cost that they would have to pay to follow Christ, and ultimately answering the call cost them everything that they had - their jobs, their comforts, and ultimately even their own life.
The greatest paradox there is that God's call in our life comes for free because Jesus paid the price in full, but it will cost us everything we have in full surrender and sacrifice. We cannot follow Christ and ever be the same again. Many things will change and there will be things that you will have to sacrifice willingly or unwillingly.
Sometimes God calls us to sacrifice a job, sometimes a relationship and many times He calls us to sacrifice a mindset or sin issue that's holding us back from God's best. It can be anything from pride, to love of money or a selfish desire that stops you from pursuing Christ. And at that moment, you will be called to pay the price. And the price that God asks us to pay is a hefty one.
Salvation comes for free, no question, but to live it out today will ask of us to sacrifice many times because that's what love does. Romans 12:1 urges us, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
But this sacrifice is never asked or demanded of us. Sure, Jesus gives us the option, but the option is ours at the end of the day. But when we truly understand the love of Christ and what He has done for us, it's impossible to say no. No one refuses service to the very person that saves his or her life and that's what Jesus did for us. He bought us at a price, and gave us new life. More than that, He offers us something better than what we can achieve on our own. I don't think any deal could get any better than that.
Sacrifice is necessary to following Jesus, but the more we give up, we will see the more that we gain both in this lifetime and in the next.
