Chapter 1 A Consecrated Life - Far Eastern Bible College

Having seen what the motivation for sacrifice should be, we can
now go on to see how far, or to what extent we should go in our
sacrifice.
II. The Extent of Sacrifice: Death
The extent we should be willing to go to is the very end of life
itself. No one can go any further than that. Death is the greatest price
that anyone can pay, because it means losing the most basic and
fundamental thing we need in order to exist in this world and partake of
all the experiences that life in this world offers. Life is very precious to
us—it must not be given it up easily. Life should always be protected
and preserved.
And yet, as precious as life is, there are things that are more
precious than life itself. Christ is the source of all life. Without Him life
would not exist at all. And the Word of Christ provides the purpose of
all life. Without it life would have no meaning at all. The glory of Christ
is the object of all life. Without it, life would have no direction at all.
Life is not an end in itself. It finds total fulfilment only in Jesus Christ,
through Whom and for Whom all things exist.
For this very reason, the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 1:21, “For
to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” The thing that mattered most
to Paul, whether in life or death, was Christ. And this is why, as we saw
earlier on, Paul was not afraid to go to Jerusalem though he knew that
suffering and even death for the sake of Christ awaited him there. He
said, “none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto
myself” (Acts 20:24).
Are you able to say the same thing as Paul? Is Christ more precious
to you than life itself? Are you willing to go to the very limit of your
existence for His sake? And do you know that Jesus requires you to
have such willingness to go to this extent: In the book of Revelation, He
says: “be thou faithful unto death” (2:10). What this means is that
Christ expects each and every one of us to be faithful to Him even to the
extent of dying for His sake. In Matthew 10:38–39, He says to us: “he
that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He
Willing to Die for Christ
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