Last night I got back from a youth ministry retreat and proceeded to sleep for fourteen and a half hours. Why? Because I sacrificed my sleep this weekend so I could minister to the sixteen students that I brought, as well as serve the district that I work on. Do I regret it? No. Since I have a mortal and finite body, I needed to rest after that. Despite sleeping for so long, I still spent many of my waking hours giving my time to Christ and his Church. God taught us to rest, so we must rest, and through resting we can sacrifice more. It is easy to think that since we just walked so closely with Jesus and served our Father so wholeheartedly, that we don’t need to rest, the Lord will provide and we can persevere. Elijah shows us why this is a terrible way to think. After the contest on Mount Carmel, not only did he want to get a good night of sleep, he wanted to die. Instead, he slept and the Lord still provided for him while he rested.
Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, ‘Get up and eat!’ He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.’ So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God.
1 Kings 19:5-8, NLT
God took Elijah from wanting to die to traveling for forty days. Between the contest on Mount Carmel and God revealing himself on Mount Sinai, Elijah had this very human moment. We are allowed to be human, even Jesus was fully human. Jesus slept. If you rest can you give more to the Kingdom of God? With good sabbath rituals, how much can you sacrifice?
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2, NLT
Jesus wants all from us. This weekend, we learned about influence. Influencing the world around us is how we sacrifice our lives to God. We do this as a living sacrifice, Jesus was the only human who could be a fitting sacrifice because he was also fully God, he cannot be bound by death. We must be influenced by God, Spirit, the Bible, and God’s people. When that is our influence, we can influence others around us. When Christ’s love can flow through us it can flow to the people around us. We can be the vessel of Jesus’ living water. We are not the source, just the vessel. As his believers, we are set apart and made holy. We must sacrifice our lives, we must be set apart from the world, we must be transformed. After these things happen, we learn God’s perfect and pleasing will. Will you make room for Jesus? Will you give Jesus all the room? Will you allow Jesus to be your everything? How much will you sacrifice for Jesus?
Shake up the ground of all my tradition
Break down the walls of all my religion
Your way is better
Make Room, The Church Will Sing
What is more important to you? Jesus or your traditions? Jesus or your religion? Do you truly believe his way is better? Will you sacrifice everything you hold dear? Jesus asks for everything. His disciples were almost unanimously martyred and John, the only one to escape that fate, got sent to an island to be isolated for his faith. We are called to accept this fate if that is where we are led. If we die at a ripe, old age then we are called to live wholly for Jesus until that day comes. We must sacrifice our lives to find how Christ wants to use us. Most of us will be these living sacrifices, from now until the day we die, we must give twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year to serve the Kingdom of God. How much will you sacrifice?
Moments with Emmanuel 