How Much are You Willing to Lose?

The other day my friend sent me an sms (text message). In it she said (and I'm sure she was quoting someone, but unfortuately I don't know who, so I can't give credit), "You can wake up today only to find that the one thing you held dear has been taken away - even your name. With this truth I am more determined to see my worth in terms of the price Christ paid for me. Not in the position I hold, not in what I have, not in the way I look, not in the people I know. I walk tall because of who I am in Him."

That really got me thinking. I think I'd be fairly okay if I lost my possessions, I'm not too hung up on my looks, I don't usually name-drop, I don't find my identity in my job, but to lose my name? To have my reputation unjustly tarnished or to have people incorrectly think ill of me? THAT would bother me. Yet are we not called to forsake everything to follow Christ? And if I am not willing to lose everything for His sake - even my good name - then I have not completely surrendered my will to Him.

Someone once said that the problem with being a living sacrifice is that you can crawl off the altar.