Whatever the Cost, Get Me There

When reading the Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible, sometimes we miss what a sacrifice truly is.

A sacrifice wasn’t some evil blood ritual that barbaric people carried out.

It cost the person something dearly.

Remember, the Israelites were an agrarian and farming society.

Livestock were super important to them, and giving up any of the animals meant less milk, meat, etc.

We don’t live in those days anymore, and our last sacrifice is Yeshua (Jesus).

He made the ultimate sacrifice, dying as a martyr on our behalf for our sins. There is no law against such, to the detriment of the anti-missionaries out there.

“I love these people so much, so let me do this for their sake.” That’s the type of offering Jesus made.

But in our modern day, sacrifice looks both different and the same as back then.

If you want to get somewhere in life, you need to make sacrifices.

I’m not saying to offer your marriage, or anything like that, to chase your dreams.

That’s not the right way to be.

But if you want to make it to a place where you can influence masses of people for the sake of the kingdom, you need to sacrifice things.

That Prime or Netflix show will still be there two weeks from now.

Those video games that suck up so much time aren’t going anywhere.

As an author, even reading that backlog of books can be put off for writing your own novels. I don’t like saying that, but there it is.

There is no such thing as overnight success. No one sees the quiet moments, the tough decisions, the night after night spent honing the craft. Malcolm Gladwell said almost two decades ago that it takes 10,000 hours to master something, to become an expert in the field.

An author I look up to said it took writing thirteen novels to sell one of them to a major publisher. That sounds daunting, but it takes sacrifice to make that happen. Think about that. Thirteen giant books to sell at last. That’s an enormous amount of effort for something that might not pan out at all.

Regarding the faith, we need to sacrifice to get to where God wants us to be.

For me, it’s not about the things worldly people (sounds disparaging but it’s a comparison) care about. If I can cross that threshold, I’ll affect the most people on this planet before my time is up and I go to my grave. If I change even one person’s life, I’m happy to know that.

Jesus said even giving a cup of cold water to a child is worthy of reward. Even a slight gesture like that.

That’s a sacrifice for something a human needs to live.

Water is plentiful in first-world nations, so we take such a thing for granted. But we must remember Judea is a desert wilderness area even today, besides the modern architecture.

To achieve a dream, we must press on and decide to choose what’s going to be right for us overall.

To achieve God’s purpose for our lives, we must surrender to Him, not looking at what someone else’s gift is.

We must offer what we want out of selfishness, ego, or doing what we really believe is right in our hearts, for the greater purpose.

If God wants us to go this way, why are we going that other way?

He knows the future, the path ahead, and we’re but dust on this planet.

We aren’t omniscient.

Sometimes, throughout human history, He allows men and women to glimpse that path and the things further down the road.

But most times, we don’t know what tomorrow holds.

Be willing to give up what you think goals are to achieve His ultimate purposes.

“I wanted this, but perhaps You have a greater plan in mind that will affect far more people.”

God knows what’s best for us. He knows what route will affect the most people.

It’s hard to admit that sometimes we get ahead of God or want to do things our own way instead of His way.

Like a loving Father, He wants to keep us safe and help us not burn ourselves and feel more pain than if we had listened to Him.

“Whatever the cost, help me get there.”

“Not what I will, but what You will.”

It’s perfectly all right to have dreams and aspirations.

But sometimes our skill set needs to branch out into other avenues as well.

David was a poet, musician, and a soldier. While any of the three would have done, he did all three.

Doing multiple things takes sacrifice.

Doing even one thing well takes sacrifice.

Again, don’t offer the important things in life for the greater purposes.

But remember to seek Him in all you do, and let go of your Ishmael for your Isaac.

Whatever the hardship might be, whatever the cost, whatever people may say (whether it’s true), whatever others may think, do the right thing, which is the thing God wants you to do.

Serve others with your gift and let go of closed doors. If a door is closed, maybe it’s closed forever, or it isn’t the right door at that time. If God wants to open that other door at a future time, that’s His job to worry about that.

But if a door is not meant for you, it will never open, no matter how much you won’t give it up in honor of the greater purposes He has for your life.

Focus on what you do best and sacrifice the things that aren’t the right fit for you.

Remember to think about how to offer those things that aren’t meant for you to seek what is meant for you.

Sometimes that means a massive heartbreak, other times it means dealing with troublesome storms, but please understand that if you give up the wrong things or make the time to get to the right ability level, God will meet you there and do the rest.

It might be in years to come, but if you make those sacrifices now, the latter things will be so much more rewarding.

“Whatever the cost, God, please get me to where I’m meant to be so that You affect the most people for Your glory.”