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 (NIV)
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. Even though it’s still cold outside, the season of
Easter will soon be upon us. Taking time to reflect before the holiday has
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. As we begin to approach the
Easter season, with whom will you share the real meaning of John 3:16?
FURTHER READING
Along with being a wife and mother to two teenage sons, Tracy is
a ministry assistant at Oakwood and works with a great group of High School
girls.
