In what ways do we see a self-sacrificing spirit or display in creation?

Answer 1

You will see self-sacrificing attitudes in any of multiple social animals.
A lion pride.
An ant colony
The great apes
Bees.
A wolf pack
Etc., etc., anywhere you find a social order with dominant and submissive members.

The perpetuation of the colony or group is often primary.

Answer 2

The most common one I see is when I have come close to a fledgling bird, a baby bird that is on the ground. The mother comes down and tries to be distracting. Some American Indians believe that there is a spirit of sacrifice thoughout all of nature, in its good aspects. We know that the plants and animals could disappear, or be inedible,,, and whenever anything is taken, it is not taken for sport, and nothing is wasted, and we thank both the spirit of the living thing and the Creator for the sacrifice of the thing we are about to consume because of our necessity to consume it to live. The fruits of the trees that fall to the ground can be seen as a gift of the tree for new life. The plants themselves, sprouting up from the earth are a gift of mother earth to the animals for medicine and food and other things. The rain is a gift from father sky to mother earth, and so are the sunbeams. Motherhood is a sacrifice of self, nurturing the baby, giving of milk. So is fatherhood in protecting the family and providing for the family.

Answer 3

While many have reduced creation and/or the evolutionary process to the maxim "only the strong survive" or survival of the fittest" , newer understandings of how the natural world operates take a different, opposite approach --it is through weakness and dependence/interdependence that the natural world operates --that is, through parasitism and symbiosis.

Also, a phenomenon known as "biological altruism" exists in nature as a function of evolution. (link below)

Wikipedia has a great article on "animal altruism."--lots more good articles if you'd like to do a google search on "animal altruism."

In a way, it seems like that there is a great deal of self-sacrifice and mutuality despite the idea of nature as being "red in tooth and claw."

Answer 4

Jesus was the only one who sacrificed himself that others might have life. He wasn't a spirit on earth but His nature was different while in heaven and after His resurrection.