The Sacrifice of Service
What level of sacrifice is required to truly serve another? What do sacrifice and service have in common—how do they relate to one another?
Selfless service requires self-sacrifice. Service and sacrifice go hand in hand. We can make a sacrifice without serving, but we can seldom serve well without sacrifice.
In John’s gospel account, Jesus said it this way, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13, ESV).
Love and service requires laying down one’s life for another. Love is sacrificial. There is no greater expression of love than someone laying down their life to serve another.
This sacrificial love is what Jesus did and it is what Jesus calls us to do for one another. Service and sacrifice go together.
May we honor those who serve so sacrificially, and may we sacrificially serve those around us by laying our lives down as Jesus laid down his life for us in perfect love and sacrificial service.
In Christ alone, Robbie
Prayer For those in the Armed Forces of our Country: “Almighty God, we commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women of our armed forces at home and abroad. Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (#25., Book of Common Prayer, 1979).
