Sacrifice of Self

By Dr. Michael Williams

Psalm 119:15-16 I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

A popular activity in many areas of the world is Yoga. Yoga is a type of worship practiced by Hindus and some others that is mentioned in Hindu texts as far back as 800-600 B.C. It involves deep meditation to extinguish or liberate one’s soul from rebirth and attain spiritual oneness with Brahman, a Hindu god of absolute reality within each person. Called Nirvana, this type of meditation is considered to be a “sacrifice of self”.

Westerners have added a more pronounced exercise component to Yoga with claims of health benefits. However, the goal remains to empty one’s self in search of finding a purified version of self that is in tune with nature or the universe. In the end, the meditation is focused on emptying the mind.

Our Key Bible Passage presents to us a different concept when it comes to meditation. It focuses on filling our minds with His way of thinking as it relates to our self as individuals. Minimizing self does not sacrifice our humanity, but instead seeks to allow God to change us to be more like His Son, Jesus Christ, whom was fully God and fully man.

As a man, Jesus encountered all the trials and struggles that we do. However, He taught us that He could do nothing by or for Himself, rather He always did those things that pleased the Father. Therefore, instead of emptying Himself, He taught us through His example, to change to be more like Him. The way we do this is not for us to seek to sacrifice who we are, but instead to meditate upon God’s sacrifice and precepts so that He changes us to be more like who He is. God does this because He loves us and wants to have a good relationship with us. As humans, God designed us to be social beings with personalities, not empty shells of energy that cannot have relationships.

Seeing this positive change in our lives inspires us to have respect for God’s ways. We find delight in God’s statutes because of our love for Him and because of what Jesus did for us when He died on the cross for our sins. We see Jesus as a common example of how we should be as individuals. As we study God’s Word and learn more about Jesus and His love for us His Word becomes hidden in our hearts.

When we experience different life situations, God’s Holy Spirit brings to remembrance Bible passages for us to use in guiding our ways. When we see the effects of these passages we respect God’s ways more and more with each passing day. Therefore, our goal of meditation is not to extinguish our self, but to fill our minds with those things that He wants us to be.

Let us consider these goals in meditation:

• to meditate on what God says in His Word
• to see ourselves as unique individuals with gifts and talents that God wants us to use in relationships to serve others
• to use these relationships to share the love of God through giving of our self on a personal level, not an impersonal one, and
• for all of us to learn to love God and others as our self.

Praise be to God!