BEG AND PLEAD, Part 1
Briefly, I share with you a true story of a man whose life was saved because another man begged and pleaded. This other man was God’s ambassador to stand in the gap and save his friend’s life. Earlier, this friend had kissed his wife, daughters, mother and then left the house while trembling at the prospect of not returning. After securing a gun, he was 100% sure he was going to commit suicide that same night. However, because of God’s ambassador, he finally surrendered the gun and his keys and stayed the remainder of the night with God’s ambassador.
A little backdrop and current update to this story: The suicidal man’s wife shared her lawyer felt her husband would be dead soon. No hope for his recovery. Only hope for her would be an up-to-date life insurance.policy. Today this man is in a one-year treatment center and able to see his God’s ambassador, guardian-angel friend because the begging and pleading were effective.
BEG AND PLEAD. No wonder St. Paul begged and pleaded many, many years ago with his dear Roman friends to present their bodies as an offering, a living sacrifice, and to renew their minds (Romans 12:1-2). It begins with the body. The body tells us how we feel. The body tells us what we need. The body does not lie, whereas we can allow our mind to deceive us. Purification begins with the body.
COMPETE, FIGHT, WIN. St. Paul also begged us to fight to win, not to just shadowbox. He begged us to run the race of life to win, not to take second place (I Corinthians 9:24-27, II Timothy 4:7, Hebrews 12:1).
How does this really relate to our body? We’ll look at this tomorrow!
