Growing in Faith During Your Baby's First Year - a 6 Day DevotionalSample

Sacrificial Servant The life of Jesus from His humble birth to His death was a crescendo of sacrifice. The man who ultimately went to the cross was shaped by a lifetime of smaller sacrifices. True ministry is sacrifice. Perhaps it is so obvious that we miss it, but when Jesus gave His time to teach, to heal, to listen, to serve, it was time He wasn’t spending on His comfort, His career, His memoirs, His mansion, or Himself. Daily sacrifice shapes us. It defines who we are and who we aren’t. Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice for us that we might be with Him in eternity. But upstream of that sacrifice was a life characterized by daily dying to self. Motherhood is an opportunity to live into the rhythm of sacrifice. From rising early, to changing soiled diapers, to giving from our very bodies, to interrupted hours and interrupted nights, it is a training ground of sacrifice. Perhaps God is preparing us through these little moments of daily dying to self for a greater sacrifice. Or perhaps the servant posture will create the atmosphere in which your child grows and learns to be a leader by being the servant of all (Mark 9:35). The man who became “obedient to death” began by being obedient to a sacrificial life. We would do well to do the same.