Category: Sacrifice

Nothing at all

Ruth Kirk

I am nothing but dust and ashes (Genesis 18:27; NIV).

He loves us with unfailing love; the LORD’s faithfulness endures forever (Psalm 117:2; NLT).

I’m nothing at all
Without your love, Creator.

I’m nothing at all
Without you, Jesus Christ.

I’m nothing at all
Without you, Holy Spirit.

I’m nothing at all
Without your sacrifice.

God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin (Romans 3:25; NLT).

God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time (Hebrews 10:10; NLT).

God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16; NLT).

References

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 (1 John 4:10; NLT).

This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many (Matthew 26:28; NLT).

Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God (Ephesians 5:2; NLT).

Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5:7; NLT).

Recognition

Ruth Kirk

These thoughts came to me as I started to pray in bed, just before settling down to sleep …

The two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road, and how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread (Luke 24:35; NLT).

At times we may long for some recognition, approval, or reward, however small, for all the efforts and sacrifices we make throughout our lives. However:

  • The only recognition
    Which really matters
    Is our recognition of Jesus
    As our Saviour.

  • The only approval
    Which really matters
    Is Christ’s approval
    Of how we love and serve him
    In others.

  • The only reward
    Which really matters
    Is seeing Jesus’ face,
    Hearing his voice,
    And receiving his embrace.

  • Therefore, the only goal
    Which really matters
    Is to become one
    With Christ Jesus our Lord
    For evermore.

Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him (Philippians 3:8-9; NLT).

References

In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us (Colossians 3:11; NLT).

We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them (1 John 4:14; NLT).

No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us (1 John 4:12; NLT).

Let love be your highest goal (1 Corinthians 14:1; NLT).

The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7; NIV).

Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me (Matthew 25:40; NIV).

Well done, my good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:21; NLT).

He returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him (Luke 15:20; NLT).

The way of the cross

Ruth Kirk

He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood (Luke 22:44; NLT).

Praying; grieving;
Sweating; pleading;

Slipping; sliding;
Stumbling; falling;

Stripping; nailing;
Lifting; reeling;

Bleeding; dying;
Rising; healing.

For you who fear my 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 (Malachi 4:2; NLT).

Look within

Ruth Kirk

All around the world we read, see, experience, and share the freedom of those with greater wealth, status and power to ignore, control, denigrate, deprive, exploit, and abuse those who have less.

Despite my resolve to take one week without posting, God has other plans, and gave me this prayer today. The pressure to write and publish it is absolutely insistent, and very uncomfortable.

Please can I enlist your help to share these prayers with others, if you are willing and able? This would enable me to reach out to as many people as possible, even though I am very tired and unwell. I have had to stop posting to about 20 Facebook groups, because I cannot bear the weight of sharing what I am given all on my own any more. Please help me with this task.

Love and blessings, from Ruth xxx

Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us (Colossians 3:11; NLT).

Let’s look within
To find the Christ,
Then make our lives
A sacrifice

Of help for all,
Of love, and peace
Despite our pain,
Which will not cease

Until death comes
To take our hand,
And lead us to
God’s promised land.

There, we will be judged
At last,
By all the fallout
Of our past

For those we use,
Ignore, or hate.
By then,
It will be far too late

To change: despite
Our wealth, or birth,
We will be treated
Just as we treat others
Here on earth.

Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be poured into your lap. For the measure you use will be the measure you receive (Luke 6:37-8; NET).

References

To reduce my burden a bit, I will now offer short, relevant readings you can look up in your own Bible, rather than the detailed quotes I have included in the past:

2 Corinthians 12:6-10.

Matthew 25:31-46.

Being a person

Ruth Kirk

Suddenly their eyes were opened and they recognized him (Luke 24:31; NLT).

Introduction
I have always experienced being a person as a very difficult and lonely task. With a mixture of envy and admiration, I have observed the lives of those who seem to navigate events, both good and bad, without having to think about who they are, or how to behave towards others.

One of the coping techniques I have used throughout my life has been to join spiritual groups, one at a time, whose customs and beliefs I felt I could accept and make my own. When other people do this, they seem to experience a sense of ‘belonging’ – of being accepted, and of being part of something larger than themselves. However, this has proved impossible for me.

Spiritual groups
Spiritual growth is my core concern, so over the years I have tried to live according to the approaches modelled by various spiritual teachers, priests, and groups. Sadly, though, I have never been able to make myself fit into any such groups for longer than a few years.

Conforming
This is because membership of a group requires major continuous, conscious efforts, as I strive to conform to its rules and beliefs.

Inevitably, in the end I make an unintentional, yet fatal, mistake, and am rejected.

Alternatively, a group’s views or requirements can become so unacceptable to me that eventually I am no longer willing to make the personal sacrifices needed in order to fit in.

An example of this happened some years ago, when I adopted Saint Mother Theresa’s teaching on humility. This gave a clear structure to my spiritual life, though I was never completely comfortable with her advice. Her way required the constant, conscious, highly-disciplined suppression of all my spontaneous thoughts, opinions beliefs, emotions, needs, impulses and desires. In the end, I simply had to reject it. The price of trying to belong was higher than I was willing or able to pay.

Leaving and loss
Each time I realised I could no longer force myself to fit into a group, I left. Each, in turn, had become my major source of spiritual structure and social contact, so leaving was always a great personal loss. This rendered my life empty of meaning and social contact for months, or even years, afterwards.

Repeatedly having to give up both the way I life I had been trying to follow, and the relationships associated with it, has been a depressingly recurrent patten in my life. Each time this has happened, it has felt like yet another major personal failure on my part. Groups which had seemed to offer fresh hope when I joined, eventually became yet another door closed to me when I disengaged. As I have got older, the growing number of closed doors has left me with very little hope that I can ever truly belong anywhere at all.

Christ’s way
However, I have recently recognised that the only way of life I want to follow is that of Jesus, as described in the gospels. I do not want his teaching to be interpreted for me by others.

Similarly, I don’t need his example to be made into a set of pre-determined rules designed by an authority-figure, theologian or other ‘expert’ for me to follow. God is my authority, and my learning comes from this source alone, in prayer. As John Newton wrote: There is no effectual teacher but God. We can receive no more than he is pleased to communicate (John Newton, “Out of the depths”). 

A journey of discovery
Now, at last, I feel ready to start discovering for myself who I am, how I feel, what I think and believe, what I need and desire, and what I want to do. In this way, I hope to begin basing my life on the precious individual, inner factors which make me uniquely me.

This is a completely new way of being a person for me. No one else can do it for me, and I have an awful lot to learn, so it’s definitely time to make a start at this late stage in my life.

Conclusion
I have lived and tried to ‘belong’ by consciously suppressing my own spontaneous thoughts, feelings, beliefs, needs, impulses and desires all the time. I now realise that these precious inner factors are what make me me.

Let’s finish with a prayer:

Lord Jesus, please set me free to become myself at last, so I can start growing more like you. I ask this through your own dear name: Amen.

I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness – secret riches. I will do this so that you may know that I am the LORD (Isaiah 45:3; NLT).

References

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6; NLT).

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:32; NLT).

I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you (John 13:15; NLT).

Give and take

Ruth Kirk

The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away. Blessed be the name of the LORD (Job 1:21; CSB).

My God,
I’ll give up anything you ask,
And freely give up anything you take.
I’ll gladly welcome anything you send,
While giving thanks to you, for Jesus’ sake.

My God,
I’ll give up everything you ask,
And freely give up everything you take.
I’ll gladly welcome everything you send,
For you bring good from bad, for Jesus’ sake.

We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God (Romans 8:28; NLT).

So much love

Ruth Kirk

They will see his face (Revelation 22:4; NLT).

For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12; NET).

So much love,
And so much faith
Embodied in
Your patient face.

So much pain,
So many sighs
Reflected in
Your gentle eyes.

So much truth,
And so much light
Cascading from
Your yielded life.

So much joy,
And so much grace
Expressed, Lord, in
Your warm embrace.

So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him (Luke 15:20; NLT).

References

Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end (John 13:1; NIV).

Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done” (Matthew 26:42; NLT).

Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last (Luke 23:46; NLT).

 

Faith

Ruth Kirk

As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy” (Mark 1:10-11; NLT).

A cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son. Listen to him” (Mark 9:7; NLT).

Nothing turned out as you, Lord,
Might have hoped –
Bit by bit, you grasped
What was to come.

Yet even as you suffered
On the cross,
Feeling abandoned
By the God you loved,

You still clung to your faith
Till your last breath.
We know this, Lord,
For when that moment came,

You cried out: “Father, into your hands
I commit my spirit.”
Then, all your passion spent, my Lord,
You died.

When Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last (Luke 23:46; NKJV). 

References

They threw him out of the synagogue (John 9:34; NLT).

They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff (Luke 4:29; NIV).

“Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans. They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip, and kill him” (Mark 10:33; NLT).

The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45; NLT).

Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came! (John 12:27; NLT).

He became anguished and distressed (Matthew 26:37; NLT).

He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood (Luke 22:44; NLT).

My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done (Matthew 26:42; NLT).

At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matthew 27:46; NLT).

 

Why have you abandoned me?

Ruth Kirk

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? (Psalm 22:1; NLT).

“Why have you cast me aside?
I’m the servant of all!”

“Why have you left me alone,
And don’t hear when I call?”

“Why have you given me up,
Though my life has been hard?”

“I’ve done the best that I could,
But my way has been barred.”

“Why have you thrown me away?
Father, please heed my cry.”

“Why have you left me behind,
When I’m going to die?”

“Why have you let my hand go
As the end draws so near?”

Jesus, you suffered for us –
And we know you are here.

Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps (1 Peter 2:21; NIV).

Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!” (Matthew 14:27; NLT).

References:

He has barred my way with blocks of stone (Lamentations 3:1-9; NIV).

Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me” (John 20:29; NLT).

This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin (Hebrews 4:15; NLT).

Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us (Colossians 3:11; NLT).

Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world (John 16:33; NLT).

Be sure of this: I am with you always (Matthew 28:20; NLT).

Additional readings:

Isaiah 53
Lamentations 3
Psalm 23
Mark 4
Matthew 14
John 11

 

Easter Monday

Ruth Kirk

You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High (Luke 1:31-2; NIV).

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13; NIV).

None greater,
Or finer;
More loving,
Or kinder;

None humbler,
Or higher;
More selfless,
Or wiser;

None brighter,
Or nearer;
More truthful,
Or dearer;

None gentler,
Or braver –
Than Jesus,
Our Saviour.

You must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen (2 Peter 3:18; NLT).