Sacrifice and Seeking the Good of Others

When we were asked to serve as small group leaders in our community in Mandaue, we readily agreed. Organize a meeting once every two weeks? Doable. Encourage members to pray and read the Bible every day? Shouldn’t take too much time.

But as time passed, we learned that seeking the good of our fellow community members was not as easy as we thought it would be. It meant taking time to listen to brothers and sisters as they talked about their struggles, going the extra mile to find out why some members were no longer attending community meetings, etc. I would not say it involved suffering, just a little endurance. Certainly it involved some sacrifice.

To encourage our fellow members to join community activities, we attended these events - so I said goodbye to Netflix binges. Instead of spending for an espresso each weekday, I used the money to sponsor a first-time breakfast guest on our Saturday meetings. It certainly was not martyrdom-level suffering, just giving up little things that I enjoyed.

I wondered, does seeking the good of others always involve some level of suffering and sacrifice? A friend pointed me to Christ on the cross. He said that it depicts both suffering and sacrifice, but we don’t glorify suffering for it’s own sake. We remember the sacrifice - the giving up of something precious, like one’s life - for the sake of loved ones.

Sometimes, suffering happens as a consequence of our own actions; at other times it happens because of things beyond our control (such as natural disasters). Sacrifice, on the other hand, is always intentional - we consciously give up something for the sake of the ones we love. To seek the good of others, we must be willing to sacrifice something, whether it’s a little comfort, our time, efforts, or resources.

What are you willing to give up to seek the good of others?