How to Live a Life of Sacrifice

What’s standing in between you and what you truly want in life? Sacrifice!

What do we fear when it comes to achieving our goals and dreams? We fear the price we have to pay which means the amount of work, and the amount of time, required to reach our desired outcomes.

Consider for a moment the meaning of the word sacrifice…

“An act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else that has greater value.”

Sacrifice isn’t giving up something that’s easy to get rid of. It’s not giving up something cheap for something valuable. Sacrifice is giving up something that hurts! It’s something you DON’T want to part with!

Now think about your life for a moment. Wasn’t it filled with times when you had to think hard about the price you were willing to pay to get what it is you wanted?

The Road to Greater Life is Blocked by Altars

That means that “altars of sacrifice” are blocking the road of life—moments and seasons where you must make sacrificial decisions about what you’re hanging on to and whether or not you’re prepared to offer it up to the flames to obtain something greater.

My life has always been this way. It’s filled with those times when I had to count the cost between security and comfort and maximizing my life. Times when the temptation to settle had to be met by the sacrificial knife and drained of its life. In other words, was I willing to pay the price?

What about you? Are you in such a season right now? You probably are, because there’s no way in hell you’ve maximized your potential any more than I have. You might say, “No, C.J., I’m pretty content right now,” but I would say that if you’re honest, you’ll admit that below the surface of your contentment is a boiling sense of “it’s not enough.”

Not more possessions or money but rather a greater manifestation of your potential. That’s what bothers me. I’m not depressed about it. I just know it’s there, and it’s driving me forward.

I can’t imagine you’re any different. We are all in this together, and we are all being beckoned by the upward call to create our best life.

Facing the Little Altars

On a cold morning, it’s easy to stay in bed when you told yourself you’d get up early to train. When you’re hungry, and it’s easy to stop at another fast food drive thru to quiet your stomach, you’re facing a “little altar” where you must decide whether you’re going to give up something for something greater.

When you know you haven’t spent time with your family, are you willing to “sacrifice” that mindless television watching to invest in your little empire? Wouldn’t it be better to plunge the sacrificial knife into the belly of laziness, apathy, and complacency and dedicate yourself to what’s important?

Ultimately, sacrifice is about this: it’s giving yourself for yourself, because there’s nothing more valuable that you could sacrifice than your present life, and the only thing greater than that is the life you could be living. Sacrifice what you are in order to become all you can be!

How to Live the Sacrificial Life

Today, you’re looking at more opportunities to make some sacrifices, but what will you do? Are you willing to give yourself for yourself? If not, you’re going to remain where you are, and you’ve already said you don’t want to do that, so what now? You’ve got no choice. You must face the altars!

If you’re ready to start living the sacrificial life, here’s five ways you can get started:

1. Meditate (which means “soak your mind”) every morning and evening on what it is you TRULY want. Make this big and exaggerated in your mind. Keep it vivid and colorful. 15 minutes each time.
2. Every day, write down short statements about all that you’ll gain by giving up those things that you’re holding on to. Your mind likes the idea of rewards!
3. Speak to yourself constantly—even muttering under your breath—about how committed you are to getting what you want and giving up what you think you want. Your thoughts will follow your words. Try it!
4. Do at least one thing per day that represents a sacrifice. Getting up early. Reading something. Denying yourself something. Anything. It’s about training your mind and emotions through regular action.
5. Don’t brag about what you’re doing. It’s not about ego. It’s about creating a strong sense of self-worth.

That last step is important because talking too much to others about what you’re doing will weaken you. Why? It’s because it’s easier to talk a great game and fool others while continuing to live with the fact that you’re not doing what you said you would do. Remember, you’re already living with a guilty conscience, so by keeping quiet about it, you’re only faced with you and you!

Now go impress yourself! Metal up!