Sacrifice

Back to sacrifice:

First let's define sacrifice. I think it's investing in something that requires taking time, or talents, or money away from something else you could be doing.

If we think about sacrifice in spiritual matters, there are generally two types of sacrifices: sacrifices we decide to make on our own and sacrifices leaders ask us to make.

Sacrifices have always existed in the world since the time of Adam. Moses:5

4And Adam and Eve, his wife, ^acalled upon the name of the Lord, and they heard the voice of the Lord from the way toward the Garden of ^bEden, speaking unto them, and they saw him not; for they were shut out from his ^cpresence.

5And he gave unto them commandments, that they should^aworship the Lord their God, and should offer the ^bfirstlings of their ^cflocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was^dobedient unto the commandments of the Lord.

6And after many days an ^aangel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer ^bsacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me.

7And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a ^asimilitude of the ^bsacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of^cgrace and ^dtruth.

8Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the ^aname of the Son, and thou shalt ^brepent and ^ccall upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.

The purpose of sacrifices that are asked for by the Lord or his servants seem to fall into one of two categories: 1) help us think about the Savior and come closer to him 2) help us build up his church. In both of these cases, there is generally some involvement by the church in order to help this happen (e.g., a program is established by the church and we are asked to participate such as Sunday School or Home Teaching, priesthood holders are involved in the ordinances of the gospel - we can't just do these ordinances on our own as there needs to be oversight to ensure they're done properly). Therefore, generally church leaders will ask us to sacrifice either to build up the church or to help us or others come closer to the Savior. In both instances, we should probably trust their vision (and almost always their inspiration) and accept the sacrifice they ask us to make. How else will the church grow without this? Someone needs to help guide the sacrifices.

Which sacrifices does the Lord count or appreciate? He appreciates it most when we repent of our sins: Alma 22-

17And it came to pass that when Aaron had said these words, the king did ^abow down before the Lord, upon his knees; yea, even he did prostrate himself upon the earth, and cried ^bmightily, saying:

18O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. And now when the king had said these words, he was struck ^aas if he were dead.

He appreciates sacrifices we make that bring us closer to the Savior or that helps others come closer to Him.

However, we can also make sacrifices that are accepted by the Lord without being asked by God's servants. For instance, the missionary in the above scripture decided to go on their own without being asked by anyone. It should be possible for us all to do things to come closer to the Savior and build up the church without being asked. The Lord is just as willing to "accept" those sacrifices as any other. In fact, I think the Lord would prefer it if he asked less and we did more.

Really, almost all sacrifices are just investments. We sacrifice certain items for others all the time (e.g., sacrifice sleep for work, sacrifice our own time to be with our kids, etc.). The Lord accepts the sacrifices we make that our leaders ask of us, but I think he also wants us to consider which sacrifices we should make (i.e., how we should invest our time), and he'll accept those as well.