sacrifice

So today is the most important holiday for Muslims, the sacrifice holiday. On this day, Muslims are to purchase and sacrifice a lamb, sharing the portions with family, friends and the poor. It is symbolic of the lamb that God provided for Abraham in place of Ishmael. In thinking about this last night, it did not all make sense to me, nor did it prepare me for what I witnessed today.

As soon as we ventured out the door of our apartment, there were blood trails all over the floor and into the elevator. And the smell that began to run through my senses was nauseating. As we turned up the street, nothing could have prepared my heart for what I saw. There were slaughtered lambs in the street, and the blood that mixed with the quiet rain drizzle moved through them like a small river of red. Then I saw a lone, living lamb within feet of the lifeless corpses, and everything within me just wanted to set it free.

And there was that smell...it was everywhere in the air...the smell of death, everywhere...the streets, the apartment, everywhere...

All I could manage to say was "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Thank you Jesus that you were and are my sacrificial lamb."

Yet in this all, as disturbing and sad as it was, is, it has given me a completely new perspective and reality of the Gospel. Christ is my sacrifice. He has already given me His heart...like a transplant, His life now beats in mine. I do not have to do this, to "do good" and find a way to pay for my sin. Jesus alone is my Savior Who has already atoned for my sin.

So as much as I would rather not have witnessed what I did, I am thankful I did...because it allowed me to witness my Savior in a way like no other.