Hebrews 11: 24-28
Everybody make sacrifices. I am using the definition of sacrifice as “destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else.” Everybody makes sacrifices; they cannot avoid it. Some sacrifices are small, and others are very large. Some sacrifices are good and godly, and some are wicked and unrighteous. A good student will sacrifice free time to have study time. An unwise father will sacrifice family time for overtime. A wicked leader will sacrifice his people for his own personal gain. To achieve or gain anything in life requires sacrifice. To be righteous we must know when and what to sacrifice. However knowing what to do is not enough, we must have the faith required to follow through.

Moses is an example of faith that results in righteous sacrifice. By faith, Moses gave up the power and position that came with being the son of the pharaoh’s daughter. His sacrifice resulted in him being identified with God’s people and sharing in their mistreatment. He chose God’s people over the fleeting pleasures of sin, and the vast treasures of Egypt. Christ-like values will lead us to Christ-like sacrifices. The world sacrifices relationships for a little pleasure and a little treasure. Moses sacrificed great pleasure and treasure for godly relationships. Moses was able to do this because he caught a glimpse of Christ before Christ revealed himself to the whole world. Moses considered disgrace for the sake of his relationship with God in Christ to be greater than anything the world had to offer. He sacrificed a home in pharaoh’s palace for a home in a land that he would never enter in his lifetime. He would not enter the Promise Land until he passed from this world through the doorway of death.

The world judges the value of sacrifice based on the worldly outcome. Did you gain more than you lost? Did you get ahead? Was it worth it all? Christians judge the value of sacrifice differently. Did we do what was right? Did our sacrifice please Jesus?