CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN TO DR. PATRICIA HOEFT who won a copy of my novel, The Rose Journal, by correctly guessing the word puzzle!
Watch for another contest in a few weeks!
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KEY #8 opens the door to GIVE LOVE, which expressed in other words could very well say "sacrifice." There is no greater way to demonstrate love than by sacrificing.
When did the word "sacrifice" become socially unacceptable? I was a teen-ager in the sixties, often referred to as the "Me Generation." Commonly heard phrases were "Look out for number one," "Put yourself first," and "My way or the highway."
Yet as a child, I grew up in a culture where people who gave up their own comforts for the sake of others were regarded with high esteem. For example, motherhood was generally considered the most noble career a woman could choose. Today, many women are encouraged to murder their unborn baby if the added responsibility would interfere with their self-centered lifestyle.
Hollywood exploits a distorted version of romantic "love," with the result that entire generations of young people have now been persuaded to accept the concept that they should focus their lives on one goal: to see their own desires fulfilled.
I saw true love expressed in sacrifice when my 95-year-old father struggled against pain to maneuver his way around the end of the bed just to be able to sit beside my mother and hold her hand when she was suffering.
I am proud of my husband, Gary, who nearly paid the ultimate sacrifice in the Vietnam War when he willingly chose to risk his life in an attempt to save a fellow soldier and good friend, receiving multiple wounds in his own body.
If I live for myself, I'll never be content. There will always be a bigger house, a shinier car, a grander vacation.
No, most contentment is found when I give myself to a cause greater than myself.
Jesus understood true love and sacrifice more than I ever will. He paid the ultimate sacrifice on the cross of Calvary, when He permitted His blood to be poured out, His body to be beaten and torn, His life to be surrendered . . . for a time. . . so we can live for all time! All we need to do is to confess to God that we are sinners and accept His death on the cross as the punishment He took in our place and give our own lives to Him.
What is my reasonable service to Him? What can I---what dare I---hold back?
"I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Romans 12:1
NOTE OF INTEREST: Compare the verse for this week (on the right) with John 3:16!
*specific phrases taken from The View From Eternity, Bible study by Linda Ruth Stai.
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