Sacrifice is Freedom

In January of 2023, I weighed in at 305 lbs. Up to that point, I had never weighed over 300 lbs in my life. It was a demoralizing moment for me the day that I got on the scale and saw that number. I felt defeated and depressed. I looked awful and felt worse. My back, my knees, and my feet were in constant pain. I was even having moments where my heart rate would randomly speed up and stay there for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. If something didn’t change, my kids might have been without a father before they hit double digits in age. My wife is too young to be a widow. 

I decided to make some changes in my eating habits and activity levels. Then I read a book called, “75 Hard” and decided to give that program a try. I lost about 25 lbs, then gained back 10. Like most programs, it’s pretty extreme, and you really can’t keep it up over the long haul. More gradual change needs to happen to make a lifestyle change.

Shortly after that, I started in my new ministry position with Leesburg Christian Church and was introduced to Adam Brooks, one of the elders in the church. Adam owns a company called Horizon Weight Loss. His father, Clyde, is the doctor in-office there who oversees everyone who goes through the program, and it has changed my life. Not just my life, though, but also my wife’s. Combined, the two of us have lost over 130 lbs. We’ve had to make sacrifices and change our eating habits. We’ve had to say no to a lot of “cheat meals” that people have tried to get us to eat. For us, we wanted to get healthy, and we knew we’d never get there without sacrifice. 

Nothing worth anything is ever easy. If you want to lose weight, you need to eat healthier and become more active. If you want to be financially secure, you don’t spend money frivolously and save instead. If you want solid relationships, you make the time for them to flourish. When it comes to our walk with Christ, it’s no different. Where your time, money, and effort go, there goes your heart. Our lives are meant to be worship to God. The big question here is, “Am I living a life that is worship to God?”

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1–2


In Genesis chapter 4, we see how sacrifice was the first form of worship demonstrated in the Bible. Cain and Abel gave their best and what would be of the greatest cost to God to honor Him, and when Cain’s sacrifice wasn’t up to snuff, God wasn’t pleased. This would lead us to think that God only wants our best and what is of great cost. What could possibly cost us more than our lives? The bigger thing we need to remember is WHO gave us the lives we have?

Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.
 Deuteronomy 10:14

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
Psalm 24:1–2

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Colossians 1:16

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
James 1:17

When we have a better understanding of where everything we have, including ourselves, comes from, we realize that the things we sacrifice were always God’s anyway. Truth be told, we are caretakers of God’s blessings. He has entrusted us with everything we have to give Him glory. So it should be natural that we would want our lives to be an extension of our worship to Him. King David understood this better than almost anyone in the Bible outside of Jesus Himself. In Psalm 50, we read the words of God as he tells his people that he has no need for their sacrifices. He wants their allegiance and for them to call upon Him. 

“For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
Psalm 50:10–15

Again, we see here that God doesn’t need anything. It’s ALL HIS! Instead, he wants us! He wants us to call on Him. He wants us to give Him our worship. He wants our obedience. By presenting our bodies as living sacrifices, we are throwing up the white flag of surrender and giving the Holy Spirit of God the ability to lead us moving forward. We remove our wants, our preferences, and our doubts all while giving God the green light to take over. When we are ready to sacrifice self to fit into the almighty will of God, we are ready to be true disciples.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
 Luke 14:26–27

Is this passage giving us the green light to hate our Mom and Dad? Are we really supposed to despise our wives and kids? Absolutely not!!!! Jesus is trying to let us know that we need to count the cost of following Him. It could cost us everything, and we must STILL be willing to follow. Sacrifice without a cost is nothing more than a really nice gift. God doesn’t want really nice gifts. He wants everything we have. When we put everything we are, everything we own, and everything we love under God’s authority, allowing Him unfettered access to all of it, that’s when we find ourselves living in a way that far exceeds any other lifestyle you could ever find. Making the decision to be a living sacrifice can be scary. Giving ourselves as a living sacrifice could cost everything, but being a living sacrifice is freedom in its purest form.