Jacob 3-4

(August 15, 2014)

                Not surprisingly, my thoughts are on Abraham and the sacrifice he was called to make.  Perhaps we will be so fortunate that the Lord will not require of us to sacrifice the things that are most important to us in life.  Perhaps, though, we will be called upon to sacrifice them only to find a ram in the thicket at the critical moment.  Or, perhaps, we find ourselves truly called upon to sacrifice the things most important to us to the Lord.  But whether we are never called to sacrifice, called to sacrifice and then spared, or whether we are required to go through with the sacrifice – in each and every case we must be willing to give up everything (especially those things most important to us) to the Lord.  No matter how painful it may be, that is a necessary cost of discipleship.  Knowing now that we must be willing to pay that price, I wish that I had prepared to sacrifice everything so that I might have avoided the requirement of needing to actually sacrifice everything (although I still hope for a ram in a thicket).