The Inclusive Sacrifice

“They first gave their own selves unto the Lord.” 2 Cor. viii. 5.

Tury gave their own selves to the Lord, and then they gave their money. The one followed the other in natural and vital succession. If the first gift is sincere, the second gift is certain. If the first gift is partial and hesitant, the second gift will be maimed and reluctant. The vital gift of self is gloriously inclusive of every other offering. It is the whole circle which encloses the varied segments. It is the integer which covers the fractions. It is the great surrender which draws everything else into its train.

When self has been yielded to the Lord all otherinterests and possessions in our life will bear the marks of the Lord Jesus. Everything and” évery circumstance will be regarded and welcomed as part of the surrendered host. The healthy spiritual life is not so much a procession of sacrifices as a spirit of inclusive consecration. The queen bee has winged her flight in a certain direction and the entire swarm is in her train. I think this must be the meaning of a sentence in a letter which was found in the pocket of a French sergeant who was found dead on the battlefield of the Marne. The letter is written to his parents, and this is the sentence: ‘* You know how I had made the sacrifice of my life before leaving.” That was the all-inclusive surrender, and it embraced anything and everything that might follow. Come what will, my God, and come how it will, my life is Thine! Here is my life, for all it is and for all it has! Here is my life, for all it meets and all it does! ‘‘I had made the sacrifice of my life before leaving!” ‘‘ They first gave their own selves unto the Lord.”

Now this is the secret of the Christian life, to make the inclusive sacrifice. Religious life is inevitably tedious when it consists of a conscious yielding of our smaller things and a withholding of our central strength. It is one thing to surrender individual pounds; it is quite another thing to consecrate our wealth. It is one thing to build altars here and there on the road; it is quite another thing to consecrate the journey. It is one thing to be religious in spasmodic conflicts, but it is quite another thing to hallow the entire campaign. If our self is kept back from the Lord, our religion will be a procession of reluctances and irritations. Every circumstance will present a separate problem instead of being caught up in the sweep of a mighty consecration. And that is the trouble with a great many people. They try to be religious in smaller surrenders, while the great surrender has never been made. And these smaller surrenders encounter curbs and restraints, and the soul is annoyed and discordant, The large surrender brings us into God’s large place. We pass into the glorious freedom of God’s children, and His statutes become our songs.