CHAPTER 17: Offering and Sacrifice
The practice of religion may be characterized as the way of
offering and sacrifice. There are offerings out of one's wealth and
possessions, but those are only an outward manifestation of offering. For
the essence of the offering is to give the self--with its desires, loves,
talents, vocation, possessions, relations, and its very identity--to God
and to the service of His will. Whatever is held most dear makes the best
offering; in an affluent society those occasional tax-deductible donations
to a church or charity may be paltry offerings indeed. The true seeker
for God makes his whole life an offering in the sense that he lives for
God, works for God, and continually directs all his thoughts and deeds to
God. The requirements of the sacrifice may include enduring persecution,
even to the point of martyrdom. The sections in this chapter explore
these various kinds of sacrifice.
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