The True Treasure

What's going on up there? (In my head I mean)

I was driving down Opelika Road the other night, Christmas Eve, if you must know, and something occurred to me. Maybe it was because it has been the Christmas season for the past month, maybe it was because the unfortunate state of the economy, maybe it is because the unemployment rate is so high and work is nearly impossible to come by, or maybe it was because the book I finished reading recently on Amy Carmichael, "A Chance To Die", whatever the reason may be, the word "sacrifice" took a front row seat on my mind in the form of a verb.

When you hear all the touching stories of sacrifice, it never fails that the main character has to surrender something that is to them considered to have an equal or even greater value than what they are getting in return. It reminds me of those two boring words we learned in college economics, "opportunity cost". Opportunity cost is simply weighing the cost of a decision's alternative. For example, I can choose to go to college or get a job. The opportunity cost of going to college would be the wages I would not earn if I spent the four years working. If I decided to take the job, the opportunity cost would be the education I would receive if I was not working. While it is true that at times the full extent of the opportunity cost can not be evaluated until hindsight, we can agree that the actual greater cost is variable based on the person making the decision.

For the person who values more the education, the esteem that comes with the education, the possibilities that come as a result of the education...the greatest cost, or the sacrfice, would be to take the job.
For the person who values work experience, immediate financial stability, and possibly independence, the greater cost, or the sacrifice, would be to go to college.

To the world, sacrifice is considered doing something good at the expense of giving up something they personally consider better, for whatever noble or ignoble reason. But I want to interject that whether the person realizes it or not, the ability to go to school and the ability to get a job, comes from God. Without Him blessing you with those abilities, you would be able to do neither.

So, now that we are all up to snuff on sacrifice, I want to propose that no Christian, literal Christ-follower, should ascribe to himself or to anyone else this term "sacrifice". As this weighty verb stood up and began to dance through my mind, I realized that the infallible and inerrant word of God says that not only is every good and perfect gift from above (James 1:17), but that all things were made by Him and for Him (Col 1:16). The things we treasure: good health, children, families, dogs, friends, jobs, money, homes, vehicles etc... are those good and perfect gifts and those, along with all other things, were made by HIM and they were made FOR HIM. He places them in our possession for the one purpose that we will use it to glorify Him. It is His and He has simply loaned it to us that we may invest it wisely reaping a great return in which we can humbly carry back to Him and lay at His feet. Like the parable of the Talent, a faithful Christ-follower will use what God gives Him to bring great reward to God. The purpose is His worship and His glory...that's it.
Is it possible to sacrifice something that was never ours, not made by us, not made for us, only loaned out to us with the intention that it would bring Him worship and glory in the end?
If the Lord who owns the cattle on a thousand hills has given me my food to eat for the night and I decide to forgo the meal and spend time in prayer...I can not say I am sacrificing my meal in order to pray. While my dietician might see this as sacrifice, I, at that time, place more value on prayer and see a greater opportunity cost in eating that night. I take my meal and I lay it at His feet in an act of worship. I tell Him I value Him more than my food and He receives worship and glory.
If I take my meal and give it to a starving child it Jesus' name...there is no sacrifice. The opportunity cost may be a few hunger pangs, but He who made that food and loans it to me that I may use it to glorify Him, receives just that.
If I sell all my worldly possessions and leave my comfortable life in order to go and help relieve spiritual and physical sufferring somewhere that is, say, less comfortable...I can not call that sacrifice. I am using what material things God has blessed me with, to bring Him glory by doing something better than keeping them for myself.
If I spend the life God has given me on the lives of those who suffer, that they may no longer suffer here, and even more that they may not have to suffer for eternity...and I die doing it...I can not call that sacrifice. I am simply using the life God loaned me, and investing it into something that will bring great glory and worship to Him. He will say "Well done my good and faithful servant..."

Basically my point is, we can not sacrifice what is not ours. We can not sacrifice anything as a Christ-follower, because everything we have is only loaned to us by Him, and intended that we may use it...whether life or death, good health or sickness, whether a large family or barrenness, whether riches or poverty, whatever it may be that He chooses to give you in your short life...to bring Him the most glory possible by investing it into that which brings Him the greatest reward.

AND not only should this be our mindset, but He tells us that all the blessings which He lends to us, if we trust Him enough...if our faith is great enough, we can return those blessing to Him by laying them at His feet, and what will He do?! He will pour out an EVEN GREATER blessing, "Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full--pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap."!!(Luke 6:38)

So let's rid ourselves of what the world calls sacrifice, and with a cheerful heart let us give back to the Lord every precious breath, every precious child, every precious dollar that He loans to us, and use it wisely, in the way that brings our True Treasure the utmost glory.





---Smiles, my head is free from dancing verbs---

the beginning.

So this is the beginning of a blog, or whatever you want to call it. It isn't that I think people are interested in my life or what I have to say, I just think this may prove to be an easier way to keep the people in my life updated on what is happening.
So to catch everyone up on the past year, 2010: I made some very good friends and met some very special people. The Lord brought every one of these friends into my life to encourage me and motivate me and push me towards God's calling.

I had a two week vacation from my job at Auburn Bank and in May/June I decided to take a trip to Guatemala. I took my roommate at the time, Emily, along with me. We took only a backpack each, nothing more. For one week we worked at Casa Guatemala, which is an orphanage in the jungle on the bank of the Rio Dulce. For the second week, we literally backpacked our way through the country and eventually back to the airport. That was a trip in itself. (Another blog, Another time.) Well other than the errupting volcano, the mudslides and floods that killed hundreds, the rockslides, the sinkhole, Tropical strom Agatha, and all the other catastrophies that occurred in our short two weeks, we had an amazing experience. It was very difficult and challenging work, but it was rewarding and eye-opening.
Shortly after we returned to the States, I felt God prompting me to pray for Guatemala and begin considering this as a place where He may ask me to spend time, long-term. Sure enough, I feel it is His will that I go.

It lines up with His word.
It lines up with the voice of His Spirit in me.
It lines up with the circumstances in my life.

Most of you who know me well, know that it has always been a dream of mine to go overseas as a missionary and to eventually establish a kind of children's home. Well while the in-country director of Casa Guatemala asked me to come as the Director's Assistant, I did not feel that this was what I should do. There was something else...I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I still can't actually. I have the option to partner with Christ Alive Care Ministries and open a branch in Guatemala as the director, and I have the option to just go and figure it out when I get there.
I am not as naive as you probably think. I have counted the cost of doing this. It is nothing compared to what Christ did and I truly have nothing else I care to be doing with my life than simply obeying His word to "go".
I do realize that I don't fully understand the way they live life, I can't fully speak the language yet and do not have a clue how businesses and ministries are run down there...SO I thought that a good idea would be to find an established minsitry and partner with them for a few years until I really get assimilated. So I applied with God's Child Project, more specifically Casa Jackson, and am waiting to hear something back from there. That would be so awesome. If I get accepted I will give you the details.

I just got done reading another one of my multiple biographies on Amy Carmichael. It is called "A Chance to Die". I loved it! Written by none other than another great missionary whom I admire, Elizabeth Elliot. Elizabeth Elliot wrote a biography on Amy Carmichael. Is that amazing to anyone besides me?? I think in my coming days I will write some "blogs" on some of the ways her life and her words have deeply affected and motivated me. The Lord speaks powerfully through her long after she has departed from this world.

Well Christ's love to you all,

Jenna.

Amy Carmichael
Elizabeth Elliot
Casa Guatemala
Casa Jackson
Christ Alive Care Ministries