Tag Archives: Sacrifice

Christian Living

“CHURCHILL DISSES AMERICA” — BOB PRICHARD

Few individuals contributed more to the allied victory over Hitler in World War II than Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain. He recognized the Nazi threat, and then the Soviet threat, when few others did. Many of his decisions were questioned, but ultimately he was vindicated in most of them. Andrew Roberts saw a different side of Churchill by examining the diaries of King George VI. He found that while Churchill was often publicly very supportive of Franklin Roosevelt and the Americans, he was very critical privately. He promoted Anglo-American unity because it served Britain’s interest, and allowed Britain to survive the war.

Roberts suggests two characteristics shown throughout Churchill’s political career: “The first was his capacity ruthlessly to sacrifice the trivial and the short-term for the greater prize. The second was his powerful sense of personal and national destiny” (Andrew Roberts, “Churchill Disses America,” Smithsonian, November 2018, 10-16).

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Wasn’t Jesus telling us that sacrificing the trivial and the short-term for the greater prize is what we should be all about as the servants of Christ. Paul certainly understood this. After he recounted all of the things that he could claim, things the world prizes, he turned his back on them.

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ (Philippians 3:8-9).

He then went on to speak of the choice he had made:

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).

Not only must we seek the greater prize, we also should recognize we “are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9). First century Christians were accused of turning the world upside down (Acts 17:6). It is our task to continue doing this. That is our “destiny” as a royal priesthood serving our Master.

Christian Living, Salvation

COSTLY! — BOB PRICHARD

Travel, especially air travel gets very expensive very fast. Your airplane ticket pays for you, your luggage, and the plane itself to be flown through the air. Fortunately, today’s jets can carry the same size load the same distance as forty years ago on half the fuel, due to lighter hulls, more fuel-efficient engines, and improved aerodynamics. But even little things still matter. National Geographic, in 2015, said that a Boeing 737-800 carrying just one extra fifty pound suitcase on every flight would cost $3,627 more to operate over the course of a year. One extra fifteen pound carry-on would cost $980 for the year. Even one extra magazine, weighing just .7 pound would add $46 a year to the cost of operating the plane. And those are 2015 figures! No wonder it is so expensive to fly! (“Explore: Science,” National Geographic, April 2015).

Just living is costly today. Inflation, greater demand for products, and technological innovations contribute to increasing costs. Most things are more costly, as prices have inflated over the years. In my first job, I had to use a crammed-full shopping cart to carry twenty dollars worth of groceries. Today, I can carry twenty dollars worth of groceries in one hand, and the difference is not that I have gotten stronger!

The sacrificial system under the Mosaic law was costly. The animal to be sacrificed was not just any animal, but one that was valuable, perfect, without blemish. In the KJV Old Testament, the phrase “without blemish” is used thirty-eight times in relation to the sacrifice. The high cost helped God’s people to understand the enormity of sin.

Peter, in calling for us to be holy, as the Father is holy, tells us “ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19). The precious blood of Christ was the most costly gift ever given to man, so much more costly than gold or silver. 

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him (Romans 5:6-9).

The cost of living is high, but the cost of dying without benefit of the blood of Christ is much worse!