Zach Clemons, Patrick, and Dorrian won bronze this week while the girls took gold led by Brittany Broom.
The greatest Olympians in history were those that had the ability to sacrifice more than the rest. It wasn’t that they were superhuman or more athletic. Their competitors were pretty much equal to them. But when it came to who could push through the pain when the legs were burning, the lungs felt like they would explode, when it felt like it wasn’t worth it anymore, when the stomach was aching and the odds were against them they were different. They observed what had to be done and made the sacrifice… (Watch this go to Kip Keino )
I John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is, Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our life for our brothers.” Jesus had one month to live and he lived passionately but he also loved completely. He showed us what love is: “He laid down his life for us.”
Without sacrifice, without laying down your life you cannot have true love. The only way you will change your school is if God’s love is flowing through you to others. How much you love something is shown by the amount you sacrifice for it. Jesus loves us so much that He sacrificed everything so that we could be with Him. What are you going to sacrifice this school year? Are you going to lay down your pride, your insecurity, your selfishness? What are your friends worth to you? God is calling us to lay down who we are so that we can show the world who He is. The more we sacrifice who we are, our wants, our desires, our insecurities and pride the easier others will feel and see Jesus.
If you had one month to live wouldn’t you show your family and friends how much you loved them? Live as if you had one month to live and step out of your comfort zone so that you can love completely. What kind of sacrifice are you going to make this month for those around you? Finally and most importantly, what sacrifice are you going to make for God? If you only understood the sacrifice He made for you, you would do everything you could to live for Him.
Kerry Shook, author of One Month to Live, gives us a great example of God’s sacrificial love: “God’s sacrifice reminds me of the story of a man who operated a drawbridge over a bay in a small ocean town. Everyday he would walk up to the office next to the drawbridge with the train track on it would rise, and enormous ships would glide through. Then he would push the lever down, and the drawbridge would lower so the train could cross safely.
Almost every day his little boy would go to work with him—he loved to watch his dad raise and lower the drawbridge. One day when they were there together, the dad was radioed that a nonscheduled train was on its way and he needed to lower the drawbridge. He glanced out the window just as he was touching the lever, and he saw his little boy outside playing in the huge gears of the drawbridge next to the shore. He yelled for him, but his son couldn’t hear him with all the commotion and noise near the water.
The man raced out of the office and ran toward his son to try to grab him and pull him to safety, but then the horrible thought struck him. If he didn’t push down that lever right away, the train would plunge into the sea, and hundreds of passengers would die. But if he lowered the bridge, his son would be killed. At the last possible second he made his terrible decision, raced back to his station, and pulled down the lever, falling to his knees in agony as his little boy was crushed to death. With tears streaming down his cheeks, he looked out and saw the train racing safely over the bridge. He could see in the window of one of the dining cars that people were eating, drinking, and laughing , totally oblivious to the great sacrifice he had just make so they could live.
Most of us are totally oblivious to the sacrifice God has made.”
What is your sacrifice going to be?
Ryan Austin
