Love and Sacrifice

By Courtney Rogers  

When most people hear the word “Bible” they think of a big, scary rule book. Because of this, sometimes God is misunderstood as this all-powerful being that simply sits up in the sky and casts judgment on people. Is there really more to the Bible than just a bunch of rules?

1 John 4:9-10 says, “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” The Bible is way more than a list of rules. It’s this personal letter to each and every one of us. It’s full of emotion and love and power. This book tells a story that is so amazing; a story about how God loves each one of us.  It shows us how He loved us so much that He gave up His life for us. The Bible is more about a relationship than it is about the rules. It is a true testament of love and sacrifice.

In John chapter six, Jesus uses a little boy to demonstrate not only sacrifice, but also His power. Jesus had been preaching to five thousand people. When it was time to eat, Jesus asked the disciples how they were going to feed all of the people. The disciples already knew that Jesus was at work. Andrew told Jesus that he had found a young boy who had five barley loaves and two fish. Jesus told the crowd to sit down. He took the bread and fish and thanked God for the food that He had blessed them with. Suddenly, the people were amazed to see that there was enough food for every one of those five thousand people.
    
That day, Jesus was able to use that little boy as an example of sacrifice. The boy did not know Jesus, but he was more than willing to give up all of his food for Him. The boy gave of his food. What are we willing to give up for God’s use?

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