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Making sacrifices

In Matt 20:28, Jesus says that He came to give His life as a ransom for many. If we have been sent like Jesus, we need to see how this verse applies to us.

Paul makes an application in Colossians 1:24 which reads as follows:- “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,  of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God.”

Here Paul sees his calling as - to complete in himself what is ‘lacking in the suffering’ of Christ. This seems to be a heretical statement that seems to imply that Paul’s suffering adds to the salvation of Jesus and also that the death of Jesus was inadequate. 

However, tying this statement with what Paul has written in Galatians and Romans we recognize that that would be a wrong understanding of the passage. So how do we understand it?

If Jesus died on the cross and no one took the message out to the world, the death of Jesus would have been inadequate. Hence Jesus commissioned us to complete the work. This is what Paul is referring to. The suffering involved in taking the message to the world he wants to complete in his body for the sake of the church.

We have been sent like Jesus. Jesus came to give His life as a ransom for many. Can we do the same?

Any ministry involves the sacrifice of time and energy. We have to take time off from our family and our leisure to be able to serve the people around us. That is what Paul is referring to here.

To be able to help people by providing for them, or teaching them, or just listening to them,  involves putting other people’s needs before ours. Many people think that we need money to help people, but that is not true. What is needed is the ability to create time for people. 

Whom will you bless with your presence today?