Sacrifices

What are sacrifices? In the Old Testament, they had to make sacrifices (offerings) to be forgiven of their sins.  They scarified animals, flour, money, things what ever was required of them to give to the priest.

Hebrews 10:3 (NIV)  But those sacrifices are an annul reminder of sins,

Leviticus 16:34 (NIV)  "This is to be a lasting ordinance for you:  Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites."

 Here's what the dictionary states:  the offering of an animal, plant, or human life or of some material possession to a deity, as in propitiation or homage.
or
the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim.

I want to talk about the latter definition. The "surrender" of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered  as having a "higher or more pressing claim".  What do a lot of us have in common with each other that probably considered a higher or more pressing claim that we don't surrender?

Answer:  TIME

We live in a world that claims "time is money".  A world that works longer, fast paced and shorter breaks.  Even vacations are shorter.  Now you are probably asking what does time have to do with me?  One of the best sacrifices we can make is giving of our time.  We as Christians need to do that.  We could make a huge statement to those who are searching for something in their lives if we would joyfully offer them the gift of time.  We rub shoulders with these people everyday, whether at work, grocery shopping, out in the park, at restaurants, Starbucks, or anywhere we go in our day to day living. Now you are probably asking why should I give these people my time, can't someone else do it like the pastor, deacon or other church worker?  No, Christ calls all of us to spread His word and message.

Mark 16:15 (ESV)  And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole
creation".

Look at Luke 19.  Zacchaeus new Jesus was coming to town and he wanted to see him.  He was a tax collector and wealthy.  He was short in size, like myself so he climbed a tree just to see Jesus over the crowd because he heard so much about him.  Jesus stopped in the crowd and called out to Zacchaeus to come down out of the tree for he was having dinner with him tonight.  See Jesus knew Zacchaeus was searching for something better then he had in his life and took some "time" to spend with him.


A lot of us underestimate the effect we could have on people's eternities if we would just take the time to spend with these people.  If you know someone who isn't a Christian invite them to breakfast, lunch, go to a gym/workout, a walk or something the both of you can do together and talk to them.  And when we are standing in line, or eating at a restaurant or somewhere in our daily travel, talk to a person even though they may be strangers.  Pick the longest line in the grocery store, go to a restaurant after lunch rush (2pm) to talk to that server or when you are sitting at the Dr's office but just talk to people about Christ.  Here's what the Bible says and I love how the ESV puts it:

Ephesians 5:16a (ESV)  making the best use of the time,

Share what it means to know Christ personally.  Have you given anybody the gift of time lately?  When was the last time you took time out of your busy schedule and spent a few minutes, an hour or two talking to someone about Christ? There are people out there who are searching for something better in their lives.

Let's get out of our over worked life, slow down our pace and talk to people who are seeking.  Even if it's just to plant the seed.  We may never know the out come but it could be worthwhile for someones spiritual life.  Let's find those Zacchaeus and spend time with them.

From Becoming a Contagious Christian pg 85:
"Sometimes authenticity fails to grab people's attention; compassion is occasionally written off as the opiate of do-gooders who may have some ulterior motive.  But sacrifices motivated by genuine love and concern is extremely difficult to discount."