Let us not talk about living to the glory of God while our own lives are still filled with so much of self-centeredness and selfishness. Do you realize that every truly great Christian who has ever lived has found that the glory of an obedient life, a life that is ready to fling itself away for the cause of Christ, far outweighs the piddling cost of giving up a few selfish desires for Christ’s sake? Do not talk about the cost of discipleship, it is the cost of rebellion that we ought to be concerned about. C. T. Studd, who gave away his fortune and went out into the heart of Africa, said, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then there is no sacrifice too great for me to make for him.” David Livingston said, “I have resolved not to count anything I own of any value, save as it relates to the advance of the Kingdom of God.” Was this sacrifice? They would not call it that. Those who have seen the glory of God in an obedient heart never speak of sacrifice. They never talk about what they have given up, because what they have gotten is of such tremendous, surpassing value. Paul could say, “Whatsoever things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ’s sake,” {cf, Phil 3:7}. Nothing could compare with what Christ could give to him. –By Ray Stedman
NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT
What a tremendous toll our rebelliousness, our disobedience, our unwillingness to give of ourselves, takes in our lives in terms of frustrated, restless spirits, the shameful, degrading acts that we hope nobody discovers, the skeletons that rattle around in our closets for years, the irritated, vexatious dispositions that keep us in a nervous frenzy all the time, the weak, spineless, crowd-following ways that we frequently exhibit, the self-righteous, smug, religiosity which we call Christianity that is a stench in the nostrils of the world and an offense unto God and men. Where do these things come from? Are they not the terrible price that we pay for a rebellious spirit, for an unwillingness to yield ourselves to the Lordship of Christ? We are not our own, we say, but we still cling to the right to run our own lives and make our own decisions, to choose our own pleasures and to go where we will and do what we want, and we cover it over with reserved, pious religiosity! We say we want to do God’s will — as long as it is what we want to do. At the center of our lives Self is still king, and that is the problem. Our own glory is in view. We still want what we want and we are not willing as Jesus was, to walk in glad obedience. But this is what glorifies the Father.
