When it comes to advancing God’s kingdom here on earth it will often require us to sacrifice our time, talent, and treasury and to move out of our comfort zones. For the Christian, however, I love how Pastor Andy Stanley puts this concept of sacrifice into its proper perspective, when he says: “Giving up something now for something better later is not a sacrifice. It is an investment.”1
This idea is backed up by Scripture in (Matthew 6:19-21) where we read: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” When we choose to forgo material and financial blessings now for the sake of the kingdom we are in essence accruing untold blessings in heaven that are permanent and eternal; whereas earthly blessings are often very temporary and never seem to really satisfy.
Jesus then goes one step further and talks about sacrificing all for the kingdom when He says: “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’” (Matthew 16:24-25). What we see here is that sacrificing all for Christ is in reality investing our lives to gain true meaning now and eternal rewards when God calls us home.
At the beginning of this devotion, I spoke about the need for Christians to move out of their comfort zones in order to build up the kingdom of God. Oftentimes believers view leaving their comfort zones to help another brother or sister with their problems as an inconvenience but I choose to view these situations as opportunities and investments to bless others and thus give glory to God!
My friends giving up some present creature comforts or some of our valuable time to help advance the kingdom of God is the best investment I know of. Even having to endure trials and temporary suffering for the sake of the gospel is a small sacrifice when we consider the future returns for we read: “For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Imagine, when we sacrifice to advance the kingdom of God we receive the ultimate return on our investment: “an eternal weight of glory!”
1 TOP 25 QUOTES BY ANDY STANLEY (of 335) | A-Z Quotes (azquotes.com)