Selfies or Sacrifice

                “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”

-          Ronald Reagan

Sacrifice. This is a word and mindset that is greatly missing in the younger generation today. I will say though, it is not missing entirely, there are still a few who stand up and live a life of sacrifice but they are very few. What does sacrifice look like? I think it looks like countless young men and women during World War 1 and 2, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq,  leaving everything that is comfortable and normal, to lay their lives on the line for freedom, and for their fellow citizens. As President Reagan also said, these individuals gave up two lives;

“…most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives – the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for our country, for us. And all we can do is remember.”

That is sacrifice. A giving up of everything they knew and were comfortable with so that they could preserve freedom for future generations. Today we live in a day of selfies, a time of letting everyone know what we are doing. What we had for lunch, where we went for vacation, if stubbed our big toe – everyone needs to know about it. We live in a day of comfort, with beds designed just for us, all of our entertainment, and all our designed comforts in our homes, and by the way I like these things too, but this idea of sacrifice is gone. In 2 Timothy chapter three the Apostle Paul says that in the last days “men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud…” And this is where we are today.

Although this is the norm for our world today, we as Christian young people are not to be. God has called us to live sacrificial lives. Lives lived in service to the Lord and others. This example is first given to us from Jesus Christ who humbled himself to become a man and made the ultimate sacrifice on the cross for our sins. We must have the same mindset as Christ as found in Philippians chapter two:

“Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”

Philippians 2:4,5

When you are looking to the things, and well being of others and not worrying as much about yourself, that’s when you go from a “selfie” motive to a “sacrificial” motive. Reach out to someone today to help them, and in these days in which we live don’t be ashamed to stand for Christ and freedom, and that may take some sacrifice.