06/02/2025
The Gift of Ourselves As A Gift of Love
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and a lot of praying, about generosity and the role sacrifice plays in it. I was struck deeply by King David’s statement:
I will not make an offering to God that has not cost me something.
The giving of ourselves is what makes a gift something powerful and life-changing. The more the giving of myself costs me something, the greater the power of the gift.
You know I love quotes, so after a little research, let me share a few of my favorites on this very subject:
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” — Jim Elliot, missionary martyr
“When you let go of what you are, you become what you might be.”
— Lao Tzu, ancient poet and philosopher
“Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.” —Jesus of Nazareth
“No one has ever become poor by giving.”
—Anne Frank
“To sacrifice something is to make it holy by giving it away for love.”
—Frederick Buechner
“There is no love without sacrifice, and no sacrifice without love.”
—Pope John Paul II
“Give, but give until it hurts.” —Mother Teresa
(She often said that real love begins where sacrifice begins.)
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” —Kahlil Gibran
“I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.” —Maya Angelou
Archived Posts
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If Not Higher
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The Perfect Church
There is an old joke about the perfect church. We talked just a little about the perfect pastor, but turnabout is fair play. It goes like this:
The Clothes You Wear
Sunday I talked about Joshua the High Priest having his filthy clothing replaced by a cleaned and beautiful garments. I also used the illustration of a boy becomes a dragon—who ‘wears’ dragon scales—and is stripped of those scales in order to be restored to a boy. In fact, I could have done the whole sermon around all the clothing imagery in scripture.
What just missed the cut for Sunday’s Sermon
Naaman’s servants may actually become one of the hidden gems of the sermon. They say, essentially: “If the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it.”
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Maybe you know the story of how Joseph and Mary accidentally left Jesus at the gas station on their way home from Jerusalem. Well, not the gas station bathroom in Jesus’ case. Joe and Mary are far down the road before they realize Jesus isn’t with them...