Day 40

"When he had received the drink, Jesus said, 'It is finished.' With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."

John 19:30

On the last day of my experiment, I chose the most difficult call we have as Christians. Like Jesus, we are called to be self-sacrificing. Jesus gave up his life to save the world. Each step over the past 40 days has been one of many on the path to be more like Jesus, and this is the ultimate.

Obviously, this wasn't something that I could contrive. Being self-sacrificing is something I must intentionally do in the moment. At each juncture of my life, I need to make sure that I am taking actions that follow Jesus' call on my life.

I have really learned and gained a lot from this experiment. Sometimes, it's very difficult for me to see the good in people, to share my faith, to remember the call on my life. In the day-to-day, I occasionally lose sight of who I am and whose I am. I am much more aware of myself, my actions, and my thoughts now than I was a little over a month ago when this began. Even if I only change one small thing about myself each day, I am growing ever closer to Jesus. Yet there is nothing I can do that will earn me the grace that God already gave, so I will definitely keep that in mind. We are called to be like Jesus, but we are also called to remember that we cannot save ourselves. Nothing but the grace of God can do that.