There is always an element of sacrifice to obedience. Mostly it is a “sacrifice” of the things we think we need but really just want. Occasionally it’s an actual sacrifice of genuine goodness, as the penguins do when they go without food. (The human parenting equivalent of this, at least in my experience: sleep.) The Bible may promise that such obedience leads to joyful flourishing, but it never tells us that the process will be quick. Sometimes our winters are long. When Jesus told his disciples, “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find
...more
