Sacrifice

The truth is that when you squeezed mom in on her own day, then ran off to do the things you'd normally do on a Sunday (which is no longer church because, hey, priorities), what you really said was that your priority is the other thing. You squeezed mom into your regular schedule because you're nice like that, but then you turned and ran off to your "real" life and dragged her along and what that says is that she's not worth a sacrifice. 

You're not actually willing to give anything up for her. You're not willing to miss anything for her. You're not willing to lose an opportunity for her. You're not willing to "waste" an investment for her. 

You're only willing to give her the free time that you have in an already-busy schedule, then ask her to help make sure you make the rest of your obligations for the day. 

And this is what's happening with the church. This is why I get so animated about the ways that the world makes us so busy on Sundays and tells us it's okay. 

Because what the world is really saying is that if you want to honor God, it's okay to just squeeze Him into an empty slot in your schedule and give Him a little recognition, then move on to your obligations, your commitments, your opportunities... 

The world has made God not your obligation, not your commitment, not your opportunity. 

And you haven't even noticed.

But be honest - you stopped sacrificing for God a long time ago. 

We've lost touch with it. We don't live in an Old Testament world. We aren't required to bring ram, lambs, and male goats and the corresponding grain offering with its pour of wine. Most of us don't even understand all of the sacrifices made by God's people historically. We just focus on the sacrifice that God made for us, and when it's all about this, then we become the center of our own faith. 

God bridged the gap. God paid the price. God made it possible. So faith takes so much less from us today than it did before the Cross. At least, that's the way we're living. God just loves us, and He wants us to love Him, and all of a sudden, it's easy to convince ourselves that we can love Him from anywhere, doing whatever we want, so why shouldn't we be somewhere else on Sunday morning. 

I can love God wherever I'm at. 

I can love mom wherever I'm at. 

Except...we can't. You can't love both God and mammon. And the truth is that whatever you're making sacrifices for, that's what you love most. 

So if you're sacrificing the fellowship to go play ball, you love ball more than you love God. It doesn't matter what you say. It doesn't matter what justification you want to put on it. At this point, a lot of folks have a laundry list - I committed; I invested; I promised. Okay, great, but you're supposed to be committed, invested, and promised to God, too, and you forsook that. You tried to give Him less and call it even, but you're not willing to do that with your other activities. So plain and simple, you value them more. 

It's a hard truth, but we have to swallow it. 

You love most what you're willing to sacrifice for. And if you're not willing to sacrifice, then maybe you don't love it as much as you thought you did.