People still sacrifice personal desires to achieve goals. This is seen in fitness and athletics, but people in those activities invariably do no see it as “sacrifice” as that word is abhorent to contemporaries. It strikes as old fashioned and contrary to the joy of life. Culture today prefers words like “training” because it sounds better. In fact if you compare both words on Google Keywords search, the word “training” is searched much more often than the word “sacrifice.” But essentially their meanings are exactly the same, as they point to the phenomenon of giving up something for a larger more desirable goal. Even psychologists will admit that a goal-centered life is much healthier and more fulfilling than a life without goals. But achieving those goals involves not doing some things that would distract you from the goal. Achievement of our goals involves sacrifice because on a daily basis we are bombarded with distractions. We need to focus and drop the things that do not matter to get to where we want to go. So how to best set our goals? What advice does the Bible offer us? Consider Matthew 6:33 as a starting point: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
The Word “Sacrifice” has been de-valued
