I never made a sacrifice!

Hebrews 11:4

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

 
 
One of my favorite missionary quotes was made by David Livingstone who spent his ministry reaching into the darkest parts of Africa with the light of the Gospel. When asked about the sacrifice that he made in serving Christ he responded by saying, “People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. . . . Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.”
 
In our text today, the writer of Hebrews is giving us the first example of faith by taking us back to Genesis 4. The human race had fallen into sin because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God at the tree of knowledge. Now their children, Cain and Abel, understand that for them to have a relationship with God, a sacrifice must be made. So each of them bring an offering. Cain was a farmer and brought an offering of his crops while Abel was a shepherd and sacrificed the first born of his flock. One brought of his abundance, while the other gave what could not be replaced. Genesis tells us that God accepted the offering of Abel, but not the offering of Cain. When we give what cannot be replaced, we are truly making a sacrifice, but in the light of the redemption of Christ could we ever truly say that we have made a sacrifice?
 
The dictionary tells us that a sacrifice is when we give up something lesser to gain something greater. Abel considered the irreplaceable firstborn of his flock to be the lesser and the acceptance of his God to be the greater. Christ considered the sacrifice of the cross to be the lesser and the redemption of man to be the greater. Mr. Livingstone considered his comforts to be the lesser while spreading the Gospel to those who had never heard to be the greater. When we sacrifice we are showing the world what truly has value in our lives.
 
In the eyes of the world, David Livingstone sacrificed much. He traded the comforts of England for the trials of Africa. However his testimony, like Abel, stills speaks to us long after he has gone to be with the Lord of what true sacrifice looks like. But when he entered into the presence of the Savior and saw the object of his faith face to face as he was welcomed into his reward I can almost here him say with more enthusiasm than he could ever have mustered on this earth, “I never made a sacrifice.”
 
May we ReFocus our minds and hearts today, not on what we lose when we follow Christ, but on the glory which shall be revealed in and for us when we stand before Jesus and here these words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”