Chapter 1 A Consecrated Life - Far Eastern Bible College

honest to ask yourself, “Do I have these characteristics in my life: faith
in God, obedience to God, the ability to endure hardship for His sake,
and the willingness to deny self for His sake?”
If you cannot find these characteristics in your life, then perhaps
this may mean that you have not consecrated your life to Him. Then you
will really need to seriously consider doing it now, since the Word of
God says, that you are constrained by “the mercies of God . . . [to]
present your [body] a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which
is your reasonable service” (Rom 12:1). Will you do what the Word of
God says then, and consecrate your life to God? “What are you going to
do with your life?”
One of my former students at the Centre for Biblical Studies on the
Hilltop, Philippines, answered this question by giving his life to serve
the Lord. But I admire him because he did this under the most difficult
circumstances. When Richard Alidon was born, his parents were
dismayed to find that he was physically disabled, had very weak
resistance and little physical endurance. Their hopes of having a son
who would do well in life and lift them out of their poverty seemed very
remote now. They lived in a little shack in Tondo, the slum area of
Manila. But Richard was blessed by God with a determination to work
hard against his physical infirmities, and was able to get into a public
school and do well enough to make it to college.
And when the Lion’s Club of Manila heard about his case, they
were so impressed with his courage and determination that they offered
to give him a full scholarship to study computer science at a prestigious
university in the Philippines. But Richard had, in the meantime, been
saved and was an active member of Tondo Baptist Church. And though
this offer would fulfil his dream to do well in life, he was confronted
with God’s calling to the full-time ministry. And he finally obeyed the
Lord, gave up the scholarship and enrolled instead at the Centre for
Biblical Studies.
Now when I first saw Richard, I must confess that I had serious
doubts that he would ever make it through his studies or in the ministry.
He was stunted, and had no shoulders. His hands were gnarled and
unnaturally contracted—I thought he would not be able to write. And
A Living Sacrifice
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