Are you willing to SACRIFICE for you LOVE?

Sacrifice and Love I wanted to talk today about the relationship between sacrifice and love. At first I thought I'd call this talk "Sacrifice Is the Proof of Love." Then I thought, "Wait a minute. Maybe sacrifice produces love, so I ought to call it 'Sacrifice Is the Source of Love.'" I'm still not certain of the precise relationship, but I can tell you this: You can't have love without sacrifice. I don't mean someone's sacrificing for you so that you will love them. I mean you cannot love someone else or the Lord unless you pay the price. We find this truth in many scriptures--I'm not going to give you all of them--"God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son" (John 3:16), "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15), "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). You see how sacrifice and love are tied together here. "Whosoever . . . forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33). Let's think about the story of the young ruler, rich, accomplished, who came to the Savior, knelt at his feet, and said, "Master, what shall I do to become perfect?" The Master replied, "Keep the commandments. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shall not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal." The young man said, "These have I kept from my youth up." Then the scripture says the Savior loved him, and he said, "If thou wouldst be perfect, go and sell all thou hath and come and follow me." The young man went away sorrowing "for he was very rich" (Luke 18:23; see Luke 18:18–23).