May I Have the Language of Origin?

We are often familiar with the question posed above when we sometimes watch the National and International spelling bees. Each contestant in a bid to gain advantage will ask the Bee master a myriad of questions to assist with the accurate spelling of the word.

The word sacrifice is an easy spell for most, if not all of us. We would not need to ask additional questions to narrow down its spelling. We would spell it in one go. But is there a language of origin for that word?

Jesus Christ came to this earth over 2000 years ago to put in practice the meaning of this word. He came to pay a debt he did not owe for the debt we could not pay. But do you ever stop to consider what it took for Jesus to come to earth, to put on flesh and become a man and then die a most humiliating death for the human race? Do you ever stop to consider the pain, the shame, the hurt, the agony He must have endured to give meaning to that word? Or has Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection become like one of the stories in Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tales books or one of the famous classics like Snow White or Cinderella? We have heard it so many times that it has become a magical fairy tale. We know the event but we don’t fully comprehend the great magnitude of the ultimate sacrifice. We do not know the language of origin.

When we are faced with uncertainty, or difficult circumstances we sometimes feel that God has left us. In those times of loneliness and despair we need to ask ourselves the question – would God send His most precious and only Son to die for us and then turn around and leave? What a colossal waste that would be for God to put His begotten Son through so much sorrow, anguish and grief if He wasn’t in it for the long haul. Once again, we do not know the language of origin.

God does not want us to match Him as it relates to our sacrifice. The truth is we could never match Him. Even if we had an only child and offered that one child for the sins of the world it still could not match God’s love. Why? Because God’s love is infinite, it knows no end, it has no boundary and it has no conditions. Man’s love for God is responsive. It is based on our response to who He is, or His goodness, His grace, His protection or His provision. God loves us full stop! Nothing we do could make God love us any more or any less. WOW! The ultimate of his love for us was the death of His Son, who purchased our redemption. Nothing in this world could ever top that.

Bee Master: “The word is Sacrifice, meaning an act of giving up something one values for the sake of something that is of greater importance.”

Contestant: “Sacrificcce, may I have the language of origin?”

Bee Master: “Certainly…. It’s Calvary’s Cross”