Sacrifice and Glory

Matthew 10:37-39
"He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it."

Luke 14:33
“Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”


To belong to Christ and to be His disciple is not only a huge pleasure and privilege but also a huge duty and obligation. There are those who only desire the pleasure and not the duty. Jesus says those people are not worthy of either. They shall not receive either. Thus we must desire to forsake ourselves in order to accomplish the duty and obligation of being Christ's disciple. What does this involve for us?

Immense sacrifice is needed to follow Christ. We need to sacrifice our whole life. We need to focus on Christ instead of seeking after things the world delights in. Yes, even our families must be sacrificed for Jesus sometimes (Matt 10:37). Our riches not be prioritised above Christ either (1 John 2:15). Our own personal safety may be jeopardised by our discipleship (Matthew 24:9; 2 Timothy 3:12). All that must be sacrificed for Christ.

One great example of sacrificing everything for Christ is the apostle Paul. He dedicated his life to spreading the gospel of Christ, and received much persecution for it (2 Corinthians 11:23-28). He did not value money, but valued Christ. In short, he valued Christ above his own life.

That's how we need to be too. We need to sacrifice our whole life for the sake of Christ our Lord. Like Paul, we will be met with persecution (Romans 8:36). Like Paul, we look forward to a glorious reward that far outweighs the sufferings (Romans 8:18). We strive to echo the words of Paul at the end of our life:

"For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing," (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

This sacrifice for God requires much faith. Firstly we need to strongly believe the promises of God to reward us for our sacrifice. We need to have both a sure knowledge of what this reward is, and a firm confidence that He will carry it out. Paul evidently had great faith, a faith that we should imitate (1 Corinthians 4:16):

"As it is written:
'For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.'
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:36-37).

This may not be easy to believe. But we must. We must believe it so strongly that we are willing to literally give our life to this truth.

In risking our life for Christ, we must always remember the command to love. A Christian's duty is to love others as God has loved us. Loving others means sacrificing our life for them. It means sacrificing our life for their life. Not like some radical Muslims. Christians are life-givers. Love for others involves a sacrifice too, especially when we are called to love our enemies (Luke 6:27-28).

So in summary, being a disciple of Christ involves sacrifice for His sake. Loving, faith-saturated sacrifice. We get the strength to do this from the rewards promised us by Christ:

"He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39).