The Insanity Of Sacrifice - A 7 Day DevotionalSample

Day 2

We Have Known This God No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:37

Those who have read The Insanity of God or The Insanity of Obedience were reintroduced to this insane love of God. It was not a new introduction to anyone who has already met Him. We have read His story in Scripture. We have encountered His strange ways in history. Clearly, we have known Him, we have walked with Him, and we have loved Him. Perhaps we simply did not recognize just how outlandish God’s love is.

One of the central themes of The Insanity of God is that the God we read about in the Bible is still at work today—and that He is still doing the very things that He has always done. Our God is not a past tense God!

This also is not an introduction, but a reintroduction. This same God who has been at work from the beginning . . . is at work today, here, now. And this same God is doing the same things He has always done. It is that great truth that we have discovered through our personal pilgrimage. After a long season of difficult, and seemingly unproductive, ministry in the Horn of Africa—and reeling from the tragic death of our sixteen-year-old-son—we returned to the United States grappling with unanswerable questions. We were close to despair and we sincerely wondered what our next step might be—or even if we had a next step.

Coming out of an environment of debilitating persecution and death in the Horn of Africa, we set out to visit other believers in similar settings to discover for ourselves if Jesus was trustworthy. Is Jesus able to accomplish in the Somalias, the Afghanistans, and the Syrias (and in every other place!) of today what He did among the Roman Empire of His day? Was His resurrection simply an isolated historical event—or is that same resurrection power available to those who walk with this living Jesus today?

Within a brief time, we were given the opportunity to travel the world and learn from brothers and sisters in Christ who had survived— and who were continuing to survive—in settings of severe persecution.

Over the next decade, we visited more than seventy-two countries, and interviewed more than six hundred followers of Jesus who live in environments of persecution and the possibility of imminent death. Much to our amazement, we discovered that these fellow followers of Jesus were not merely surviving—they were thriving in their faith. And God was blessing them in remarkable and startling ways.

What we learned were life lessons from believers living in persecution, who are living out the resurrection—even today. Our search through seventy-two countries revealed dramatic testimonies of believers who have come to know God intimately as a faithful friend—a friend who calls us to a life of sacrifice modeled after His own. This matter of sacrifice is a challenge for all of us. And we will be wise to approach any conversation about it with a spirit of humility and prayer. It is our sincere hope that, through the stories contained in these devotions, God will change all of us. It is our prayer that God will give you a heart for the world. It is our desire that you will embrace the privilege of sacrificing for His glory.

God, we are so thankful for Your sacrifice that allows us to know You as Father, Savior, and Lord. God, we recognize that You have sacrificed Your Son for us. And we wonder if maybe that sacrifice should be the end of the story.

But You invite us to join You in sacrifice.

Why is our sacrifice still needed? Following You is so much harder than simply studying about You. Please give us courage as You call us forward.