Continuing the theme for my last three posts, my thoughts keep landing on the words ‘human sacrifice’.
There’s a few ways of looking at this.
It’s human to sacrifice. The most glorious human stories that we’re in awe of whether in film or real life, involves sacrifice. Man dives into on-coming traffic to save a child; Murder victim’s parents forgive killer; Gandhi risking physical abuse in hopes of liberation. When we hear these stories something deeply human wakes within us.
Sacrifice involves something you already humanly have. You can’t sacrifice things, money, or superpowers you don’t have. It`s something you’re capable of.
Sacrifice is for the good of humanity. Often it is when we become highly aware of what we have that others don’t which moves us to sacrifice. If you look at the life of Moses, or Paul, or Christ himself their sacrifices were not for personal piety but ‘for the sake’ of others.
Passion spills out from human sacrifice. A sacrifice only matters when it’s costly. It’s most beautiful when a person pours their entire life into it. You can tell what a person is passionate about by what they’re willing to suffer for.
Sacrifice makes us more human. Human sacrifice in this sense runs counter to many ancient near east cultures mentioned in the bible – where someone else is sacrificed, in order to get something, that ultimately only ends in death.
Truly human sacrifice involves sacrificing yourself, your life, what matters most to you, for the sake of others, because life erupts from sacrifice.
Someone once said those who lose their lives will find it.
It’s fascinating that in a world where we stuff and cram our lives with more and more we only find ourselves emptier than ever. Yet in the life of Jesus we see someone who empties himself for humanity and lives the fullest life possible. Who’s human now?
What are some things you can see yourself giving your life to?
[...] if we just eliminated some options we assumed we had to leave open?If it’s true that passion involves sacrifice, what have you sacrificed for yours? Could it be that the one thing you’re holding on to [...]
[...] looking for something worth giving their entire lives to.Not all of us can in anyway realistically sacrifice life as we know it for a chance to go to Mars, but there is something thrilling about the adventure [...]
Thank you so much for posting this. I have never thought about personal sacrifice this way before. I think that it is interesting what people will sacrifice for. Some people would sacrifice a lot for a new BMW , while other would rather sacrifice to help someone out. I will definitely be revisiting this article and thinking about it some more.