Sunday, February 09, 2020

30 LETTERS TO MY CHURCH on DISCIPLESHIP - LETTER 15




LETTER 15 - A DISCIPLE PRESENTS THEMSELVES AS A LIVING SACRIFICE

Someone has said that the problem with a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar.

I haven't. 

In fifty years of following Jesus I have never entertained leaving Him. I don't think I have ever been tempted to stop following Jesus. 

The initial call of Jesus, to me, was: leave everything and follow Me. As I read the Scriptures, that's what I thought The Call was all about. I still think like this. 

I was twenty-one years old, and just born again. Sitting in my Lutheran church on a Sunday morning, I was reading the bulletin. One announcement said: "Our church needs a youth leader. Please pray that God would give us someone to lead our youth."

As I read this, I felt a burden. To pray. I did.

Next Sunday came. The announcement was still there. I felt a burden. It felt weightier. I prayed for a youth leader for my church.

During that week the burden grew. I felt concerned. My church needs a youth leader!

Sunday came. I read the announcement in the bulletin. I remember thinking, "Oh no. You have to be kidding me!"

When I became an apprentice to Jesus, one of my leaders placed a book in my hands. It was The Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I read this:


“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

At that time I was immersing myself in the four Gospels. I wanted to hear the voice of Jesus. Bonhoeffer sounded like Jesus to me.

Unbelievably to me, I became the youth leader of Tabor Lutheran Church. I am eternally grateful to Jesus for seeing something in me that transcended my human abilities. I learned that such things can only be discovered and experienced if I die to myself.

I am a living sacrifice, offering myself to the Lord.

I want you to do the same.

Love,

PJ


DECLARATIONS

I am my Beloved's and He is mine.

Every day I say to Jesus, "Have Your way with me."

I sacrifice my entire being on the altar of God.

In being a living sacrifice I am on the road that leads to life.

Here am I, Lord. Send me.

All to Jesus, I surrender. All to Him I freely give.