Psalm 119:109 The Discipline of Sacrifice

I would guess nearly everyone who reads this could quickly rattle off at least one phrase or saying they heard their dad or mom say over and over again. I know I could.

If you're a parent, what are the things your children will remember you saying, even when they're grown and have kids of their own?

If there's one thing I hope my sons remember me saying, it's this:

It's part of the job description.

Whenever one of them would thank me for helping them out, for giving them some money to help out, for answering the phone at odd hours or going out of my way to help them, for being patient at a time when anyone else would have said 'go away, don't bother me' - whenever they expressed surprise, remorse, or gratitude for something I did for them, my response has always been the same.

It's part of the job description.

Occasionally they'd ask what job description I was talking about and I'd explain it's all part of the job description of being a dad.

I hope they remember it and I hope they emulate it with their own children.

I hope they also learned from me that self-sacrifice is also part of the job description of being a man of God.

Though I constantly take my life in my hands,
I will not forget your law.

Psalm 119:109

God's Word has a scarlet thread of sacrifice woven all the way through it, from Abel's lamb and his own life through to the martyred saints worshiping before the throne of God.

A life spent absorbed in the discipline of meditating on the whole Word, from beginning to end, will be a life trained in an automatic willingness to sacrifice time, money, comfort, fame, and even life on behalf of God's purposes and God's people.

If your Christian life is consistently comfortable, peaceful, and prosperous, you're doing it wrong. Dive into the Word more deeply and dive into the life of sacrifice that's an essential part of the job description of an everyday saint.