Being a light in the darkness requires sacrifice.

Luke 9:23-24 (NIV) Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." Whenever I talk about christian living, I never forget to mention in the end that it is never easy. We should not be fooled that following Christ is a walk in the park. He makes it easy for us but christian living per se is a life of pain according to world standards. A candle when it burns to create light slowly fades to perform its role of giving light. If wew want to be effective in bringing light into this dark world, we need to shed a bit of ourselves, slowly and painfully. Sacrifice is givig until it hurts.. Our old church need desperately needs repairs. Imagine yourselves as this structure and you ask God to perform what you think are necessary repairs. He first repairs a few things but eventually, to your surprise, totally takes down the building and starts to build a better one. It may seem painful in the beginning but knowing that he intends to live in this structure and seeing how beautiful the new structure is, makes you see it in a very different light. There is no greater love than a man giving his life for a friend. Jesus Christ died so that we may live. As followers of Christ, death is not really optional. Death can mean a lot of things. It is not always in the literal sense for most Christians. What is not sacrifice? I am on a diet anyway, so might as well fast. I will give you this big amount of money (but in reality is just a small fraction of what you own) Take my child, he wasn't my favorite anyway Lord I will follow you, as long as I don't get embarassed in public God is not asking for some of our time, some of our money, some of our efforsts. He wants us, all in. When we commit ourselves, we should coount the cost. The cost is our old wicked self, to be replaced by a shiny new person. That, I think, is worth giving in to.
A very hopeful promise Isaiah 40 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.