Sacrifice

Lent starts this Wednesday, and right now, I'm struggling to figure something out.

What exactly does sacrifice mean?

It's a term used so often in the Christian church, how God sacrificed his one and only son so that we might be forgiven of our sins, but what does it mean for us, today?

This question stems from a campaign started by World Vision, and co-sponsored by Intervarsity, called Relentless ACT:S of Sacrifice. The goal of the campaign is to get our generation, college-students, twenty-somethings, those just starting to dig their feet into the "real world," to think about what it means to live a life that is sacrificial, that isn't about us at all, but rather about the larger picture of God's Kingdom.

I really love the idea behind this movement, because, as you can probably tell from previous posts, what draws me most to Christianity is the message of social justice present at its core. I think, in many ways, Christianity has one of the most radical philosophies out there: that everyone, regardless of race, class, background, or gender, can find an equal place in God's kingdom is crazy. No other philosophy is quite like that.

Which is why I am struggling to figure out what I, personally, can sacrifice this Lent. Obviously, nothing I do can compare to what Christ did (nor should it), but as William Penn so straightforwardly said, "To be like Christ is to be a Christian."

What part of myself can I give up?