Sermon Illustrations
Commentary
People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can
that be called a sacrifice which is simply acknowledging a great debt we owe to our God,
which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings its own reward in healthful
activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious
destiny? It is emphatically no sacrifice. Rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness,
suffering, danger, foregoing the common conveniences of this life--these may make us
pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a
moment. All these are nothing compared with the glory which shall later be revealed in and
through us. I never made a sacrifice. Of this we ought not to talk, when we remember the
great sacrifice which He made who left His Father's throne on high to give Himself for us.
David Livingstone.
