Sacrifice

Today in Church we had a lesson on Sacrifice and it led me to a lot of reflection. First off, my favorite story of sacrifice is that of Abraham and Isaac. Genesis 17:15-21,

"And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Sarah they wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year."

I find this interesting, because BEFORE Isaac was born the Lord already told Abraham that he would establish His covenant with Isaac and with his seed afterwards. This brings new meaning to the sacrifice that Abraham was asked- to sacrifice Isaac. Just think of the faith that that would require. To be asked to do something that doesn't make sense. The Lord has promised you that you will have a son, his name will be Isaac, and that HIS children will also receive the same covenant. But Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac before he had any children. To have faith that the Lord fulfills all his promises and really does know what is best- in this case- would require a lot of faith in my opinion. For if I were to follow, then how would the Lord fulfill His promise made to me before my son was even born? What was asked of Abraham, doesn't make any sense to me. And then compound that with the fact that in the book of Abraham we learn that Abraham was meant to be sacrificed to Egyptian gods by his father Terah- how appalling human sacrifice must have been to Abraham. Yet through this story we see an example of faith in the Lord to do whatever He asks. Knowing that the Lord will provide a way- even when we don't see how that could be possible. I personally don't think that the Lord intended for Abraham to sacrifice his son- but we are all tested to see if we will put the Lord first and trust in Him who knows more than we do and who is perfect, and perfect in His knowledge of what is best for us. Do we trust in Him? Even when it doesn't make sense?

One example, is that of modesty. I mean some of that makes sense and since this isn't a post on modesty I'm not going to go too much in detail- but part of our "dress code" never made sense to me. I mean to some extent I guess it still doesn't, but I'm endowed and I follow it anyways. The thing that I never fully understood was that of needing sleeves. I mean I understand not seeing bra straps- but surely a thicker strap is fine- I always referred to bathing suits- I don't have to alter my bathing suits to make sleeves for them to be modest- so I didn't see, especially in the summer time, why we were required to have sleeves. But the point is not a matter of sleeves, but are we willing to give up our sleeveless shirts (or cover them so we are modest) to follow what God has asked of us?

There's a story in the Old Testament of a leper named Naaman. I'm just going to briefly relate the story, but the whole story is contained in 2 Kings chapter 5. Naaman wanted to be healed of leprosy and enlisted the help of Elisha the prophet at the time. Elisha sent back a messenger telling him to wash in the Jordan River seven times and he would be healed. Naaman heard it and started complaining, thinking that it should've been something more miraculous, or at least have been asked to go and wash in a cleaner river. In verse 13 his servants come and say to him, "if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?" So Naaman followed the council of Elisha and was healed. In our lives do we think that the small commandments aren't necessary? Or are we willing to sacrifice the small things and follow anyways- trusting in a prophet's voice who speaks for God himself?

There are many ways we can sacrifice- in doing things for others, in obeying the commandments, no matter what. In ancient times they had animal sacrifices that pointed to the great and "last" sacrifice- that of our Savior Jesus Christ. It was not the last sacrifice, but it was the last human or sacrifice that required blood to be shed. In 3 Nephi 9:19-20 it says, "And ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings. And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit..." Animal sacrifices were instituted to point to Christ- that through Him we could be saved. They pointed forward to that day. Now the Sacrament has been instituted (the Lord's Supper in some religions) to remind us OF that sacrifice. It is a time to reflect and to offer ourselves up in a sense. To offer up a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Today we discussed what that means exactly. Usually when we think of a broken heart and a contrite spirit we think of repentance. And it reminded me today of a scripture in Alma 22:18, where the Lamanite King is being taught by Aaron and the Lamanite king says, "...I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day..." Our sins and vices we sometimes keep because they bring pleasure, they bring temporary happiness, or we just don't see how we can survive without them. One definition of sacrifice is given as 'Sacrifice is giving up something of value for something of greater value'. In the midst of our sins we hold to them as something we see as valuable, but when we let them go we are able to more fully turn to the Lord and KNOW Him, and when we do that we prepare ourselves to be ready to be saved at the last day. To me this exemplifies a broken heart and a contrite spirit. To be willing, to desire to come closer to Christ, no matter what the cost. And to me that is what sacrifice is, to want to put our trust in God first- willing to sacrifice our time, talents and means to helping Him. Knowing it is for the greater good, knowing that we will be blessed, but WANTING to do it because we love God first. Not simply because we are told, and not even simply because we know it will help us in the end, but because we love God first. Whatever step we are at- whether we are merely obeying, or whether we are doing it for the personal reward, I think we all need to strive to have the attitude where we are doing something because it is what God wants. Knowing we will benefit from it and letting that be our sole motivation needs to eventually be different in our progress towards being better and becoming more like Christ.

So whatever we need to do, sacrifice a little more to come closer to Christ. Whether that is a sacrifice of time of service to do Christ's work, or more personal in repenting and giving away even one sin at a time to come closer to the Savior- let that be our goal.