So I was catching up with the sermons at Elevation Church (they are awesome and you should check them out) and I was listening to “I Told You So” from their series Surround and something that Pastor Steven said resonated with me. “You are sitting in someone else’s sacrifice.”

He was talking about how all of their buildings and worship centers were built because of the sacrificial giving that their members performed every week. How those buildings were the result of the faith that some of the church goers had that God would provide and that there was no way for them to “out give” God. The flip side is that there are people who merely sit in the physical sacrifice  of others and benefit week after week without the thought of contributing personally.

There were people giving so much for the church to be able to be built and some of these people would never step foot in that building. That really stuck with me.

I started to think about other types of sacrifice that I see people give in my church. The sacrifice of time as the Pastor’s train up their congregation and next generation one on one. The families that serve in almost all of the ministries not for recognition but because you can see that they really don’t believe that their life should be any different.

I helped with the Winter Relief program at CCF in November and it was amazing to see how different people viewed “service.” Some spent every day serving long hours without the need for recognition. These are the people I look up to and aspire to be. The servants of Christ who just serve,they don’t need praise because they don’t want it, they just faithfully show up and work. It was beautiful to watch husbands, wives, children, (whole families) work together towards one cause for Christ.

THEN YOU HAVE THE FLIP SIDE

We saw countless people who showed up so they could check off a good deed for the holiday season. People who threw fits if they didn’t feel important or utilized enough and yet every job that was available was beneath them. It broke my heart to see how some of the volunteers treated or talked about the Homeless that we were supposed to be serving. There was nothing about us that made us better than them and yet you could see the entitlement radiating from some of the volunteers.

So as we start to plan to serve Winter Relief again in January I hope to see the faces of those angels that served with humility and grace. The people I feel blessed to call my church family because I was never more proud then to see them sit and talk with the residents, serve lunches, clean bathrooms, and everything else that they did to bless those around them.

So as I listen to Pastor Steven Furtick talk about his message of sacrificial giving I think about the sacrifices that I get to experience and also participate in. The blessings that I get to be apart of when I sacrifice some time, sleep, money, or sanity when I get to serve for Christ. So this Christmas season I’m challenging myself (and anyone else is welcome to jump in) to look for more ways to surround my life with sacrifice. To look for places I can start to serve or give more. To stop surrounding my life with myself (with my problems, my life, with me, me, and wait for it….me again).

So as I look in the mirror I’m thinking it’s about time I grab some Christmas Cheer and get over myself 🙂