True Sacrifice
I haven’t done it and I don’t know if I will: dumping ice water over your head and posting the video on social media. The Ice Bucket Challenge has already raised more than 53 million dollars for ALS research. It is a great idea especially the part about challenging three friends to do it as well. Of course the best part is raising money to find a cure for ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)-more commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
But I do have my concerns (or at least reservations) about the whole charity selfie phenomenon. I was recently reading about the history of Hawaii. The stories of the sacrifices Christian missionaries made to serve the people of Hawaii were incredible. Just to get to Hawaii required a six-month sea journey around Cape Horn navigating through some of the most treacherous waters in the world. The hardships these people went through just to get to Hawaii included seasickness, starvation and even death. They graduated from places like Yale and Princeton and gave up everything to serve in a foreign land. They received no salary, left behind all their family and had to start ministries from scratch. Once they got there they had to learn a new language and a whole new culture. Their wives died delivering children because there were no doctors. These missionaries were attacked and their churches burned because whalers and other sailors did not like the Christian teaching that young women should not be sexually abused.
The sacrifices of missionaries continue to this day. Those who work in Central Europe to rescue women trapped in sex trafficking face real physical danger. The powerful mafias who enslave young women from Eastern Europe and Northern Africa do not want their immoral financial model to implode because these missionaries are rescuing their sex slaves. And there is our most recent example of missionary sacrifice in the Ebola cases of Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol. Dr. Brantly is a physician who was infected while ministering in Liberia with the Samaritan’s Purse ministry led by Billy Graham’s son Franklin. Dr. Brantly volunteered to lead the Ebola case management center. Nancy came to Liberia with Service in Mission and was infected while serving in the isolation ward. They put their lives on the line to help people in serious need. Thankfully both recovered and were released from Emory University hospital. I personally know a medical missionary who works with AIDS in Africa. She graduated from Johns Hopkins and could have a lucrative private practice and instead lives on a meager salary while serving mostly children in the worst AIDS epidemic in the world. This is what real sacrifice looks like.
My concern is whether it trivializes the nature of sacrifice. Let’s face it: Dumping cold water over oneself or others then posting it to social media are easy. Giving $25 or $50 is not a big sacrifice for a lot of folks. I think it is vital to understand the true meaning of sacrifice. When you give up something you love for something you love more-that is sacrifice. When what you have left is less than what you have given-that is sacrifice. Jesus told us to take up our cross and follow Him to do so requires sacrifices in many ways. Following Jesus isn’t a fad that lasts a short time or is even easy at times. But true sacrifice is what makes a difference and it is what Christ followers are called to do.
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