Sacrifice
By Tracy Smith
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:16
His only Son. Think about that for a minute. Growing up attending church, I took for granted that Jesus came to earth as a baby, grew up, had a ministry, and died for our sins. I knew it was an awesome thing for the God of the Universe to allow Himself to live life here on earth and to die for our sins. I think that because I had heard this since I was a small child, I accepted it and believed it, but never really processed what it all meant to God the Father and to God the Son.
My focus was always on what Jesus did for us. There is nothing wrong with focusing on that, as His sacrifice is what allows me to have communion with God again, but I never really thought long and hard about how what He did impacted His Father.
Then I became a mother - - of sons. Suddenly, it was much more real. As Easter rolled around one year when my oldest was a toddler, it suddenly hit me what God the Father had sacrificed in His love for us. I sat there looking at my son sleep and thought of all the people in my life whom I love and came to this conclusion: While my love for them is strong, I would never (strong word, but true) willingly sacrifice my son for them. Not only that, but can you imagine telling your son that you would be sacrificing him for a bunch of sinners?
Thinking through that brought new meaning to Easter for me. It caused me to really think about what Easter means…not only to my faith, but to my God.
GOING DEEPER
1. Will you commit to spending some time this week focusing on the incredible sacrifice that was made by God, just for you?
2. Using John 3:16, with whom will you share the real meaning of Easter?
FURTHER READING
Along with being a wife and mother to two boys, Tracy is an administrative assistant at Oakwood, serves on the Women’s Ministry Special Events Team and leads a great group of Junior High girls.
