In Religion and throughout history people have sacrificed themselves for some great cause. I do not mean in death only, I am talking about any type of sacrifice for a worthy cause. I do NOT condone Religious violence or any other act that causes harm to others. That is not what sacrificing is or what it is meant to be.
A real sacrifice is made so that either yourself or others can have and know peace. Giving up some part or all of yourself to help another, that is probably the greatest thing many of us will ever be able to, or even hope to achieve. I mean that it should be one of our main focuses.
Paul the Apostle made many sacrifices as he went about serving Christ through his service of others. So have Joseph Smith and others. Joseph Smith was said to have gone willingly to his death. I think he knew the outcome was not going to be in his favor. But he went anyway.
I am not sure if in my life I could be unselfish enough to really sacrifice things that I want or need in order to give them to another. I do try and help people when I see that they need it or they ask for it, I do try to give people help. But not on the level of Paul, Joseph or Jesus Christ.
I do not think I have to though, and that is actually the hard part. Going all out and giving it all up at once can be done quickly in some cases, but giving each day and slowly trying to become better, can take a lifetime. I think it is harder to live each day trying to sacrifice the things that keep you down and keep you from being who you are and should be, than it would be to just walk away clean.
The real sacrifice, not to diminish Jesus's or Joseph's but, even they told us that the real sacrifice comes from daily service to God. And we do that by serving others. That is a real challenge, one that I think is definitely worthy to pursue as a cause.
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