*SACRIFICE - see SURRENDER, SUFFER, STRUGGLE, PAIN, WAY, WORK, TRANSCEND, CROSS, PURGATORY, SIN, ATONEMENT, REDEMPTION
Sacrifice is
1. a sacred offering
2. the offering of life (plant, animal, human) or some material possession to a deity as in propitiation or homage
3. the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim (Dict)
Sacrifice truly means ‘to make sacred’. By giving up something you really want, you are instead only hurting yourself; you are not making anything sacred! Sacrifice is never about giving up happiness but gaining even more happiness for yourself by making others happy. Giving it to them is really easy when you know that your happiness comes from within you and no where else. (http://evansnf.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/love-sacrifice-misunderstood/)
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1-2). Our “bodies” are now to be the instruments of His grace and mercy instead of being yielded as instruments of sin. “Lord Jesus, this day belongs to you. Please come and take me and live your life through me. Let your name be glorified in me today.” (http://www.abideinchrist.com/selah/nov1.html) Build your Christian life on Romans 1-11.
"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me" - to underscore our duties towards sacrificial living to follow God's will. We need to realize," points out the author, "how much of a blessing it is to be an instrument of God, as well as a privilege, so that our hearts will seek for those opportunities to be used by Him. (http://www.bookwire.com/PDF/gahiji.pdf)
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit: A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. (Ps 51). The old-fashioned Act of Contrition said, "Not so much because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all, because I have offended Thee, my God, who are all-good and deserving of all my love."
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Hebrews 13:15-16)
Love is sacrifice and sacrifice is love. (The Hindu - Online newspaper)
Faith requires sacrifice and sacrifice requires faith. (Randy, 8/15/08)
We must be careful never to give with the selfish idea of receiving, but when we sacrifice, we do in a sense trust God to replace what is given, in his own time and in his own way of course. Somehow, when we give to God we are able to strangely retain what is given and have the increase and the blessing too. It's amazing! Martin Luther once said "I have held many things in my hands, and have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess." In Leviticus 6:9,12, and 13, we see that the fire must never be allowed to go out on God's altar. His altar is never to be without sacrifice. Let us keep the fires kindled. It will bring us a warmer, more blessed relationship with the Creator. (http://www.churchisraelforum.com/does_God_still_desire_sacrifice.htm)
Embracing faith requires a humble heart willing to sacrifice everything for Christ. (http://blog.embracingfaith.org/2008/03/devotion-20.html)
Love Means Sacrifice, Not Selfishness. (http://www.joycemeyer.org/OurMinistries/EverydayAnswers/Articles/art19.htm)
If sacrifice is the highest level of love, within sacrifice itself is there some highest and deepest surrender we can make? What is the most precious thing we have which we are most reluctant to surrender...? Self-sacrifice! Discover that there are whole areas of ourselves which we have not yet surrendered completely to God. (http://www.therealpresence.org/archives/Spiritual_Exercises/Spiritual_Exercises_003.htm)
Sacrificial love is the love God showed us when he sent His Son to the cross, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…” (John 3:16). When Jesus went willingly to the cross, He went out of love for us, and also love for the Father. This was the greatest display of love in history! (http://yoesmaan.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!B9E0BCD1DA5DB7C6!441.entry)
We need "Little Christ's"-- heroes imitating our Lord and His Sacrifice-for the salvation of souls!
Pray that God will increase your trust in him as you walk paths of uncertainty. In what ways do you find yourself identifying with Abraham in this test of faith and obedience?
Our spirit in its affliction is itself a pleasing sacrifice to God. "For you are not pleased with sacrifices; should I offer a holocaust, you would not accept it. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn." (NAB, Ps 51:18-19) "When I offer a holocaust, the gift does not please you. So I offer my shattered spirit; a changed heart you welcome." (ICEL, Ps 51:18-19) (Dark Night, p142)
To love the Lord with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength and love thy neighbor as thyself is more than all sacrifices. (Mark 12:33)
If any man come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. (Luke 9:23, Matt 16:24)
Unless a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die ... it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:46)
It is better for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish. (John 11:50)
Those who want to follow me must renounce themselves, take up their cross and follow me. Those who want to save their life must lose it; those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the Gospel, save it. (Mark 8:34-36)
But to achieve this reintegration of the repressed feminine, the masculine must undergo a SACRIFICE, an ego death... A threshold must now be crossed, a threshold demanding a courageous act of faith, of imagination, of trust in a larger and more complex reality... leading toward a reconciliation with the lost feminine unity, toward a profound and many-leveled marriage of the masculine and feminine, a triumphant and healing reunion... We seem to be witnessing, suffering, the birth labor of a new reality, a new form of human existence, a "child" that would be the fruit of this great archetypal marriage. (Passion, p444)
I wonder if God sacrifies His TRANSCENDENCE by becoming IMMANENT and thus also shows FAITH in us that we will transcend back to Him. (Randy)