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God-Pleasing Sacrifices

“Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.” Hebrews 13:15

Praise, the death of self.

I only have one scoop of ice cream left, there is not enough for both of us, so I give you the last scoop of my favorite dessert. Is this sacrifice? I am certainly giving of something that I enjoy and desire, but does that constitute a sacrifice? Let’s take another example. I see a friend of mine become sick and suddenly has an enormous debt load. If I emptied my savings account to provide for them, is that sacrifice? If so, how much more of a sacrifice is the second case than the first?

These are certainly benevolent acts of love that merit respect, but the fundamental question still applies: What is sacrifice? See, in our culture we have a tendency to create sliding scales for truths that are difficult to accept. This struck me in doing a brief study into biblical sacrifice because the only connotation in scripture for sacrifice is death. This was much more obvious in the Old Testament books, but is still very evident in Jesus’ death on the cross. The common theme was, if there is sin, something has to die, be sacrificed, to cover it.

Where does that sliding scale hit our lives when it comes to sacrifice? Many of us know and struggle with the verse, “take up your cross daily and die.” We might get the idea that something must die but don’t always know how to play that out. In Hebrews 13:15 we get really practical instruction for this. Even in this context something has to die and be willfully placed on the altar. What guilt, shame, pride or just junk gets in the way of you worshipping God with everything in you? Walk that thing to the altar and let it die, and then praise the Lord for the freedom it brings.

Prayer Focus: Lord, reveal to me what things are inhibiting my ability to praise You, and empower me to place those at Jesus’ feet to be dealt with. I will praise You for all of my days.

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