by Ansley Zecckine
In a recent movie called “Seven Pounds,” Will Smith’s character makes the ultimate sacrifice for someone whom he feels deserves to be saved. In Christianity, there should be two similar parallels, one of them being Christ’s sacrifice for us. With Jesus’ sacrifice, however, there is involved a profound love which we do not deserve.
In our own ability, the very best that we can offer God would result in a rag about as clean and pure as a handkerchief shared among three African tribes, later to be lost in the wilderness and trampled upon by a herd of elephants suffering from chronic diarrhea.
We can’t do anything for God on our own because we are stained by sin. We don’t deserve salvation, but we desperately need it because we are infected by the terminal illness of sin. What’s the end result of this? Heart failure.
Those of us that have accepted Jesus’ sacrifice, however, are clean and righteous in God’s sight because we’ve been graced with the gift of the cure. And our hearts? They pump on, forever changed, with the ability to live for God.
The human heart weighs, on average, only about 10 ounces. Supposing that the measure of a life is “weighed” by the heart, consider just how little it is that we can give to God in worship and in thanks for all he’s done and does for us. In order to put it in perspective, take an ounce off the total for any relationship you have that isn’t glorifying to God; take an ounce off for every habit or addiction that you allow to rule over you; take an ounce off for every unhealthy word spoken, every lie, every smirk; take an on ounce off every time God is neglected by you. Now what’s left to give God?
We can never give God the fullness of what He deserves, but we can give Him the fullness of ourselves, starting now. If all our lives amount to is a mere 10 ounces, then we ought to vow to give Him the core of our being; we ought to vow to give our heart, our life, and our all.
We’ve discussed Christ’s sacrifice for us, but now we’ve ventured into what should be the second parallel: our sacrifice for Christ. We are called to be honest and true examples to those around us. Unfortunately, it appears difficult in our current times to be able to distinguish between something as simple as who is a Christian and who is not.
Romans 12:1-2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Being a living sacrifice isn’t too much for God to ask from us- it’s reasonable. We should want to live for Him in a lifestyle of worship, and when we do, we show others who God is and what He is like. This world needs more than ever for the true Christians to step up and be the beat of Christ in a world that has lost its rhythm. What’s the end result of this? Heart victory.