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Inspirational article from Joanne Lowe

Index of Writings by Joanne Lowe on Gospel Web

NOT A FAVOR

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

Romans 12:1 King James Version

This is one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible. If you will notice Jesus says “I beseech you”. The definition for beseech in the Webster’s Dictionary is: “to request earnestly”. Jesus is earnestly requesting us to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God. Many times we think we are doing Him a favor by keeping ourselves pure and by serving Him. He is not asking us to do Him a favor; it should come automatically to us if we love Him.

Jesus says “by the mercies of God”. If we will ever grasp in our hearts that without Him we can do nothing, we will have a lot less stress and turmoil in our lives. So many times we try to do things without the power of Jesus behind us. Without the foundation of Jesus, it will crumble eventually. This is true in our marriages, our homes, our friendships and our country.

I have received many emails and they have told me they were patterning themselves after my life. To that I immediately replied, “Stop it now”! I am human just as you are and I make mistakes also. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t fail Jesus in some way. There is always another phone call I could have made, or another email of encouragement I could have sent. Keep your eyes on Jesus! He is worthy of all our attention, devotion and love.

Are you serving Jesus because it is expected, or because you love Him? Without love for Him, your service is meaningless and empty.

Joanne Lowe
July 1, 2006

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