Steadfast In Sacrifice (Part 1): Living As If You Can’t Lose
Fighting a losing Battle
There’s a lot of “sound expressions” you come across in life, expressions that are both helpful and true. Like, “you get what you pay for” or “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”. The only catch with these expressions are, they always sound a lot better when you’re not on the receiving end.
For instance, if you’re a parent, you’re likely familiar with the expression, “there’s no use in crying over spilled milk”. Meaning, there’s no sense in getting upset over something that’s already happened—because after all, what’s done is done. Here’s the problem with that, kids rarely create one instance of “spilled milk” throughout a single day.
Most parents can mop up puddles 1 through 10 without missing a beat. It’s the days in which the little terrorists are operating in the 15-20 range where things get testy. Puddle 17, your nerves start to slow boil. Puddle 18, you issue the final verbal warnings. Puddle 19 becomes your last-ditch effort to keep composure.
Puddle 20…
There’s a lot of days where life seems to get the best of you. A lot of days that leave you feeling down & out, like you simply can’t win. And when the perceived losses continually pile up, even the most optimistic of us can find ourselves believing that we’re fighting a losing battle. But what if, by believing that lie, we’re doing ourselves an even greater disservice? What if we’re—
snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
In Matthew 10:39 (NLT), Jesus makes the following claim:
“If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up [lose] your life for me, you will find it.”
Jesus, the champion of our faith (Hebrews 12:2 NLT), explains that the greatest win (finding your life) comes on the other side of our greatest loss. A claim like that seems absurd at face-value, but it’s actually something we all know to be true. Anything you’ve gained, anytime you’ve gotten ahead, or “won” in life…it cost you something. Winning requires a willingness to “lose”. Winning requires—
A willingness to sacrifice.
The question is, are you really failing in life? Or simply failing to recognize the significance of your sacrifice? Losing sight of the sacrifice robs your situation of any substance. Truly winning in any given area means you’re playing the long-game. That means life’s payoffs are often put off. When you’re not settling for what’s easy, your wins possess real depth. And the greater the depth, the greater the deferral—the time it takes to recognize the fruit of your labor.
One of the surest ways to avoid winning is to become fixated with “not losing”. Now is not the time to count losses, it’s time to lose count as you continue to faithfully sacrifice. Every sacrifice is another mark in the Win-Column. Keep making your mark, keep sacrificing. Because a life of winning is a—
life of sacrificing.
steadfast in sacrifice
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 (NIV)
There’s a constant temptation to allow the current status of your situation, or even the outlook of your future, to dictate what you do in life. But these things are always subject to change, which is why God directs us to focus our energy in ways that ultimately lead us to win. Winning and losing come down to what you practice.
“Don’t be misled, you reap what you sow” (Galatians 6:7 NIV)
What you practice is a byproduct of your perspective. Maintaining a healthy perspective is not only important, it’s the difference between winning & losing. Every decision to not give up (win) in a given area, requires a decision to give up (lose) something else. It comes down to this—
What are you willing to sacrifice?
That’s why the next few posts will be centered around making a sacrifice in 3 critical areas of life.
area #1: confidence
In order to regain your confidence, you have to let go of your fear.
area #2: complacency
If you want to avoid stagnancy, you have to abandon complacency.
area #3: christ
If you truly want to find your life, you have to lose it.
When we see things with real clarity, it completely changes the way we see our sacrifices. Where we used to see loss, we begin to see gains. Obstacles become opportunities. Places of emptiness become places of empowerment. When you remain steadfast, when you refuse to give up on the things that matter most—
you can’t lose.
unconventional winning
We live in an earn-it world, where if you want something in life, you’ve got to make it happen. You have to earn it. That’s why it’s so hard to wrap your mind around the message of the cross. Because Christ’s crucifixion looks an awful lot like “putting the cart before the horse”. It appears completely out of order.
In the most unconventional arrangement in human history, Jesus accomplished victory. The creator sacrificed Himself on behalf of creation. In order to save those He loved most, Jesus surrendered to those who hated Him most. When we talk about giving, about sacrificing, it’s because God first gave to us.
Jesus secured the one victory we weren’t capable of winning, the victory over sin & death. A relationship with Christ enables us to live in absolute freedom, instead of unrelenting fear. Christ has handpicked you to join the winning team, His offer is to take your loss & replace it with His win. All you have to decide is whether or not you’re in. Because when you’re in—
You win.
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today’s Takeaways
Don’t snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
Winning requires a willingness to sacrifice
There’s no condemnation for those that are in christ