Sacrifice?

A couple of weeks ago at church they talked about sacrifice. This stirred some thoughts in my head and actually really got me mind going. Now this isn’t a new topic for me I guess and that is what was a little more difficult. See upon returning from Ethiopia in 2008 this is something that I really struggled with and have over the past year or more. The reason for this struggle and thought process is that I guess I feel that I don’t really fully understand what a sacrifice is. Now yes I understand the whole sacrifice in the Old Testament but what I struggle with is sacrificial giving. I can never fully match that of the Lord giving His Son to die for me and much, much more.

I will try to explain my thoughts here.
These verses are what really sticks out in my mind is 2Cor 8: 12 Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. 13 Of course, I don’t mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality.

Now I get the whole give eagerly and fully agree with that with out a doubt but this is where I struggle.

See the man to the left in this picture? I believe this is a man of God who understands this definition of sacrifice way more than I do and what really makes me think I don’t understand is verse 13 tied to what I have seen in this man.
So first off I will tell you, his name is Iticha and a missionary to Junior High boys and girls in the Borana/Sidamo region of Ethiopia. In 2007 on our trip stayed where he was working. He was not only a gracious host and servant to us in every way. In fact I believe he and his wife played a role in serving us meals and carrying us water multiple days. Then to add to that he brought us all gifts? Not just any gifts though, gifts that pertained to who we were and what he had seen in us or knew we wanted. Here I was there to serve them and help build a hostel for them in a region in which they may have an income of 1 US dollar a day and he is giving us gifts.

Now I return to Ethiopia the following year to serve again and this amazing man invites us into house small living quarters for him and his family and goes on to serve us this huge meal with meat, veggies and coffee afterwards. It was way above and beyond anything I could ever have anticipated.

The thing is it wasn’t just him that did this for us that week. Each one of the missionaries that we visited or came in contact with did something for us this past year. From making us coffee in their home, to coffee, pop and an ethnic treat called Kolo (an Ethiopian version of trail mix) . We were treated amazingly well, in this country by those we went to serve along side.

So here is my thought process and where it goes. Some people in developing countries including Ethiopia and many more may be lucky to have 1 meal a day. Yet I sit here and have 3 full meals plus much more. That doesn’t even touch the fact that I have a car, a house and way more clothes than I know what to do with. Yet they maybe have 2 sets of clothing if they are lucky and the one is their Sunday best. The whole view is just earth shaking to me. So where do I draw the line? Where is that equality? What is enough and what do I feel I need to give up to really be living sacrificially? People range from all different ends of them spectrum on what is really a sacrifice and I am just trying to figure out what this really means to me and put it into action.

I will give you a little something more I have been chewing on for at least a year now.
The lyrics to the chorus of Todd Agnew’s Mercy in Me
And I don’t know what You want
What You see in my life
And I don’t know what You mean
How You could be glorified
And I’m not to sure about this idea of sacrifice
What You mean by mercy, mercy in me
Your mercy in me