At church on Sunday, I was thinking about the Lord's Supper, and I was struck by a new thought:
As Christians, we are physically nourished, corporeally fed by the symbol of Christ's redeeming grace. The phrase that came to my mind was a simple one. As Christians, we are sustained by sacrifice. We wouldn't have spiritual life without Christ's sacrifice--we are spiritually fed by his death on the cross. In a small measure, through the symbol of communion, we are also physically fed by Christ's sacrifice.
What does that mean practically--that we are sustained by sacrifice (both physically and spiritually)? It means that we should be primarily fed by Christ's sacrifice on the cross, but that we should also live in such a way that we languish without consistent sacrifices of our own, sacrifices for other people among whom God has placed us.
I want to continually challenge myself to live a life of servant-like self-sacrifice and to cultivate an appetite for wholehearted unselfishness. Or perhaps, rather than focusing on "unselfishness," I should aim for the rather old-fashioned "charity." As Lewis remarks in his Screwtape Letters, the focus shouldn't be on my unselfishness in foregoing certain benefits, but in surrendering benefits so that others may be happy in having them. My focus should be not on the bigness of my own self-denial, but in the simple joy of providing blessings to others.
My (admittedly very small) first step? I have a piece of a friend's favorite candy in my pocket. Tomorrow he will have a pleasant mid-day surprise.
Thus starts my mission to embody a willing and joyful charity.
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