Worship Without Sacrifice

One of the cool touristy things that we did while we were in India - specifically New Delhi - was go to visit Gandhi's tomb. Around it were written some quotes from books that he had written, or things that he had said - I'm guessing so, anyway, they were in a variety of languages, so I could only understand a couple.

But this one, that you can see above, I really loved. And I think it's quite relevant still today; even though it was written just over 90 years ago. Because I think we still have politics without principles (or maybe they're just bad principles); we still have wealth without work (probably a lot more so); we still have pleasure without conscience; knowledge without character; commerce without morality; science without humanity; and worship without sacrifice. Now, each of these could be a speech in themselves, though there's a few there that I don't really know well enough to talk about. But I would like to look at the last one.

Worship without sacrifice. Do you know what the word worship means? It originally derives from the words worth-ship. It's talking about what is worth the most to you. What is worth more than anything. Here's a good video on what worship can look like in a secular sense. But, generally speaking, you'd think that God would kinda top that list. And wouldn't it follow, then, that if God was worth so much - that you would sacrifice so much for him? I mean, we talk about our sacrifices in lots of other places. The sacrifices we make for our work, for our relationships, for our friends, our children, our communities, our music or art, our cause. But what about our sacrifices for God? What is worship....without sacrifice? I would say - and I think that this is what Gandhi is saying - is that it isn't really worship at all. If you aren't willing to sacrifice - then you're saying it's really not that important. Something else is higher. Something else is bigger. Something else demands your attention, and ultimately, your sacrifice.

I think that's a trend that we see a lot of, these days. People talking about the sacrifices they make everywhere else - but what about our sacrifices to God? Our worship to God? A bit of a dangerous idea, here: if we're comfortable where we are, then we're not worshipping God. Because sacrifice isn't comfortable. Sacrifice comes from the meaning of surrender, to give up, to suffer to be lost - but how often do we do that? I know that for me, not nearly often enough. There are many things that I could sacrifice that I don't. Because I get scared, or because I like my safety and comfortability. But if God is worth everything - if he is so worthy of our worship (and he is!) - then why are we so scared to give up the little that we have? It was never really ours to begin with. But it's always a lot harder to do than to say, isn't it? Something to ponder on.