Sacrifice……… at what cost?

“Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,  and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.”                       Mark 10:43-44 NIV

“Teach me, Lord, how to forsake without being forsaken.  I know You will never forsake me, but I am not sure I can pass the test of forsaking what I should forsake?

I greatly admire the decision of Moses, who “forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king.”   Heb. 11:27   He forsook the spirit of Egypt, the wealth of Egypt, and the claims of Egypt.    But I am fascinated by the fact that he did all this while still in the land of Egypt.

I have forsaken many things that did not count for God’s sake.  I was happy to give up things that no longer had any meaning for me.  It is so easy to sacrifice what you no longer desire!

But Moses sacrificed Egypt for God’s sake while still surrounded by its immense charm and magnetism.  

Lord, how hard it is to make a decision for You when surrounded by wealth, popularity, position, charm, self-centeredness and power. 

To see God then is to have the eye of faith indeed; and to decide for God then is to forsake this world even as Jesus forsook it when He denied Satan’s offer of its kingdoms.

Lot was forced to forsake the riches of Sodom, while Moses gladly gave up Egypt.

Lord, I know You will separate me from every clinging thing in Egypt; but first You will ask me to do it voluntarily.

It is God’s intense desire to mole us into a “man” of God and not a pampered “saint”.

He wants to make us a steadfast believer and not a warmed over replica of Egypt.  

“Lord, please make me a voluntary forsaker, not a forced one.”