It’s been a year since we started this blog. In order to celebrate, we’re reposting some of your favorites, posts with clicks and shares and mentions on our survey. With sacrifice lately on our minds, this one seemed like a good place to begin.

In today’s world, the word sacrifice is taken seriously as often as it’s bandied about lightly.  We talk about giving up time, money, sleep, or life.  We speak of sacrificing family to job, rest to work, and chocolate for Lent.  We decry sacrifice when foregoing one for another is clearly detrimental.  At other times, we choose with conviction.  “I gave up _____ for _____.” we say with a note of pride because the second seems infinitely better than the first.

No doubt, the second sometimes is better.  But not when sacrifice takes up slack for another.  Not when it’s blind submission to “think we should,” the unwritten rules of family, society, or church community that impress so deeply they seem written in stone.  Not when it’s an excuse to neglect the first or escape from a challenging situation.  We soothe our souls because the second seems godly and the first worldly.  But what if both are important and the first much better than we think?  What if the stones have been broken and we’re set free?  What if the challenge needs us?

Sacrifice is especially thorny when the “m” word enters the picture, and we become involved in ministry.  Ministry is good.  It seems anointed and so can easily take precedence.  When we teach in another country and report back to people who seem more interested in a count of souls than papers graded, ministry clamors for attention, and teaching sometimes comes in second or a distant third or fourth.

Though the mode and results blessedly diverge this side of the cross, ancient concepts about sacrifice may clear out the thorns and renew our thinking.  They may lead to transformation, to true worship and living sacrifice.  So, let’s take a minute to consider what Malachi, who had a lot to say about Old Testament sacrifice, might have for us today.

The Problem

We cheat Yahweh and show contempt for His name when we:

• promise the firstfruits of teaching but offer defective sacrifices, the dregs of our time and the lastfruits of our energy and mental capacity.
• use sabbath as a makeup for lesson planning and grading, sacrificing rest to work and justifying it with ministry.
• show favoritism to students who have the right spiritual climate.
• take advantage of the captive audience in our classrooms or our position as teachers (especially in authoritarian societies) to “push our agenda.”
• complain that teaching is too hard or that everyone else gets all the good jobs.
• claim to be teachers when we are not and encourage others to do the same.

The Challenge

Lastfruits can be replaced with firstfruits:

• the sacrifice of thoughtful planning and timely grading.
• the gift of a well-executed lesson, a fitting activity, or skillful classroom management.
• the pure offering of an aptly spoken word in the ears of a hurting student no matter the spiritual climate.
• a living investment in knowledge about teaching—persistent professional development and possibly a higher degree, with humility and enthusiasm, for the Master Teacher’s name.
• the sweet incense of professional excellence and a job well-done.

The Result

Bring in the whole tithe, Malachi might say, teaching and ministry, job and family, godly in the world, and rest.  Test Yahweh in this and see if He does not refine your firstfruits into jewels in His crown.  See if He does not pour out so much blessing that you don’t have room for it:  favor in your school and the society in which you live, classrooms that become places of delight, and students (even colleagues) who overflow with the fruits of peace and righteousness.  Then, “for you who fear [Yahweh’s] name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings.  And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.”[1]

[1]Malachi 4:2, New Living Translation.

Further exploration