Good morning Zebras,
Twenty-six years ago, when Gary and I got married he asked
me to stay home with the kids. I had
just gotten my teaching credential, something I had wanted since I was eight,
so at first, I said “No.” But after two
years teaching I could see it would be better for the kids if I did. So, when Katherine came along, I quit.
Twelve years later, when I had finally gotten into the swing
of being a “housewife,” (it was a hard and painful transition.) God said go back to work. Originally, I said, “No, who will take care of
the kids?” And He said, “I will, you
follow me.” So, with fear and trepidation,
I went back to work.
Three years later God told me to leave teaching and go do
ministry. I said “Yes.” But Gary said “No.” It was one of the longest years of my life
teaching that fourth year, waiting for God to confirm to Gary what He had
already told me. But I waited because
going against Gary was not an option.
Sacrifice means you do the hard stuff for God in a way that
honors Him.
People often tell me they hate their jobs and they want to
quit to serve God, expecting me to agree, but unless God tells you to quit your
job, you need to stay. Staying at a bad
job is one-way God teaches us to die to self.
Only a child thinks sacrifices are made up from the things
you don’t like to do.
When Nick was little, one of the questions on his Bible lesson
was “What are you willing to sacrifice to God?”
Nick wrote “Vegetables.” I said,
“No.”
Sacrifice means you honor God by giving up the things
getting in the way of your relationship with Him, not the things you wanted to
quit doing anyway.
I love you Zebras, but we live in a culture that teaches us
to “Treat ourselves well, after all we deserve it.” But that’s not a teaching I can find in the
Bible. And God’s people are miserable
because they are being taken in. They
are listening to what they think they want to hear and throwing out the truth.
The truth is, dying to self and living for Christ is the
best thing you can EVER do for yourself-I promise.
Love,
Jill
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