Could there ever be a sacrifice so great that we could regret it as an offering for our Jesus?

Could there ever be anything more worthy than giving God our everything?

Do we think the cross He bore for our sakes wasn’t painful?

Isn’t He worth it?

Has He earned it in our hearts?

Is He truly Yahweh to me?

The Great I Am?

Or just the great?

If Jesus was asked to give everything, why shouldn’t I be required to do the same?

I know His blood is far richer, far more meaningful and powerful, divine, than any of us mere mortals.

But, if Jesus chose humility on a cross,

And if His life is the way intended for me to follow,

Does not the same request fall to me also?

Is not the same cross asked of me to bare?

The length to which we are willing to suffer aligns with the words we believe to be sovereign over our lives.

For though it breeds misery,

The ability to suffer,

The opportunity to suffer for the sake of Jesus,

Is one of the most valuable treasures on earth.

For how free are we, once suffering no longer has us bound, but rather supplies blessing and fullness this world cannot give?

Forgive us Lord for ever thinking we don’t need the cup of suffering,

When indeed Christ chose it humbly,

Willingly,

Sacrificially in love.

Forgive us Lord for thinking we know a better way.

Indeed we are cowards, fools, selfish, stubborn,

Blind to the way of creation,

The way of marvel,

The way of intimacy,

The way of hope.

Everything has a cost.

The cost of faith is our ego.

The cost of joy is our pride,

The cost of love is our own selfishness.

We discover the most breathtaking beauty in the raw vulnerability of our own nakedness.

The truest freedom of our lives rests in the ability to let God.

Let God decide our days.

Let God love us.

Let God reveal vision, perception, ideals to us.

Let God use our sacrifice to burn in us a treasure.

Let God make peace from the rubble of our broken down pride.

Let God awaken utter dependance on life in Spirit.

Let God be God.

Let me not.

In it all may a beautiful exchange of self for God unravel the mystery of the lived out gospel.

Might we run tapped out,

On fumes,

Having every bit of ourselves poured out,

And more,

Filled with always more than enough of God each and every day,

Miraculous overflow.

May time on this earth be used up on God,

On His people,

His creations,

His glory.

I think this is the narrow way that leads to the garden soul,

The rooted mind,

The beautiful feet,

The devoted heart.

I think this is the narrow way that leads us back to God.