Sacrifice

My pastor preached on Wednesday about the many feasts and sacrifices of the children of Isreal. I came to church really tired, and when he first starting expounding on the feasts, I was wondering if my brain was going to hold out. It did, and when he got to the application, wow, was it good:

1) All sacrifice should point to Christ
2) Christ pleases the Father
3) Make much of Christ

My sacrifice should point to Christ. My motive must be to please Christ, not myself, or my sacrifice does not please the Father. And if I am making much of Christ, He will be the center of my worship, my attention, my thoughts, my life. Everything.

It is really easy for me to feel like my life is very simple and not all that exciting to God. I feel like my "sacrifice" of my time with the children, or work around the house, or serving my husband is pretty pointless somedays. But if I perform all those tasks "as unto the LORD", I am pleasing the Father, no matter how boring it looks to me.

It is hard to remember that. It is so much easier to see one more task completed with no thanks. It is easy to feel frustrated because I am doing the exact same thing today that I did yesterday. It is easy for me to feel sorry for myself because I can have a really successful day and nobody notices.

When I feel that way it is because I am sacrificing for me. I want to be the good mom, the good home maker, and the good wife. I really want to be good at what I do. But instead of working hard so that at the end of the day I am pleased with my job well done, I need to just bring my motherhood, my homemaking, and my marriage as an offering to Christ. The fact that He is glorified is my reward. I get to please the Creator of the universe because I change diapers, sweep floors, and give hugs and kisses. That is amazing and wonderful and I can't understand why He would even give me the chance.