The Sacrifice That Changed My Life
Author: Rev. Dr. David Jefferson, Sr., Esq.
March 10, 2025
We're living in an environment now where we're told we can have it all, that sacrifice isn't necessary. But when I look back at my own journey and at Scripture, I see something very different.
I was born in Doyline, Louisiana, on a 20-acre farm, as one of fifteen children in our family. Now, that was a lot of mouths to feed! Daily life wasn't about comfort; it was about survival. Every morning before school, we had to milk our four cows. We weren't purchasing milk from the store—we simply couldn't afford it. Those cows were essential to our family's nourishment.
When my oldest sister finished high school, we faced a moment that would define our family's future. We didn't have money for college—no money at all. The banks wouldn't loan my father any student loan money. The people in our community, bless their hearts, put their hard-earned dollars together for us. And at that time, they didn't have money in banks. Their money was tied up in handkerchiefs underneath mattresses. But even after collecting all that from our neighbors, it still wasn't enough.
So my father made a decision that I'll never forget: he sold one of our milk cows.
Now, to sell a milk cow meant something profound. It was really coming to terms with the fact that we would not have enough milk to go around. That we would be putting our family through some real difficulty. But we trusted God, and ultimately that sacrifice paid off. It put my parents’ first daughter in college, and the rest of us followed suit.
That's what real sacrifice is intended to do—to create some discomfort. Otherwise, it's not a sacrifice, it's something else entirely.
To this day, I cherish my education because I know exactly what it cost. I saw the price paid by those who loved me. That's what real sacrifice does. It transforms both the giver and the recipient. It takes something painful and turns it into a blessing that ripples through generations.
This principle runs throughout Scripture. When King David needed to offer a sacrifice to stop a plague, he refused the offer of free animals and land from Araunah, declaring: "I will not offer to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." David understood something we often miss—that a sacrifice should cause us to go without, to feel some inconvenience.
When we sacrifice:
- We show what's truly important to us. Whatever we sacrifice toward, that becomes our god. If we only sacrifice in order to make money and get to our job, is that your god? Is that the priority of your life?
- We experience deeper appreciation. When you sacrifice for something, you value it more deeply. I cherish my education precisely because I know what it cost my family.
- We open ourselves to provision. Throughout Scripture, we see that when people were willing to sacrifice, God provided in ways that far exceeded what they gave up.
- We participate in God's redemptive work. From sacrifice comes life. From sacrifice comes blessing. It's a spiritual principle that we cannot ignore.
In our comfort-focused world, most of our children weren't born into places where they had to make sacrifices or where they saw their parents making sacrifices. But as we enter this Season of Sacrifice together, I invite you to consider: What "milk cow" is God asking you to sacrifice? What might seem too precious, too essential to give up, but God is calling you to trust Him with?
So often in our faith, individuals do the most convenient thing to try to satisfy God. But the sacrifice ought to inconvenience us. It ought to cause some discomfort. Because it's through sacrifice that great blessings and breakthroughs occur.
What might God accomplish through your sacrifice?
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