With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O LORD, for it is good. Psalm 54:6
C.T. Studd was an outstanding County and All-England Cricketer. He was a freshman at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1879-1880, and took a degree in law. By that time he had been challenged to a missionary career and, forsaking his cricketing fame and the family fortune, he followed Hudson Taylor to China.
He returned 21 years later, broken in health, after serving in China and India. Unexpectedly he received a new and very distinct call to the heart of Africa. At 53, leaving his invalid wife in England, he set out in utter reliance on God’s promises. His answer to all who questioned the wisdom of his action was found on a postcard on his desk: If Jesus Christ be God, and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him. (churchages.com)
How true it is that we often consider being a ‘living sacrifice” for Jesus Christ, too costly and therefore hold back from giving ourselves totally to Him. Our lives are to be given to His service - not just parts of them. Until we are humbled and broken before the cross of Jesus we will only know & see in our lives and in our church what J H. Jowet once said. Ministry that costs nothing accomplishes nothing.
May we look at being living sacrifices, not as a cost, but as a privilege to serve - or as David Livingstone once said: If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honour, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?