When we give our lives to Christ we become ‘slaves to righteousness’ (Romans 6:18). We change masters and move from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of light (Colossians 1:14). This means, we no longer respond to the demands of our old master, we no longer obey him. In this case, our old master is our flesh and its desires that Satan uses to entice us and make us sin. Our new master is the Lord Jesus Christ who has secured our position with the Father. We now live a life of adoption as children of God who are no longer His enemies but are heirs along with His son Jesus. This shift in ownership brings a vast array of challenges as our flesh is now at odds with our new nature. One of the commands we are given as new creatures, born of the Spirit, not of human flesh is to “offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12:1). In other words, we are called to consecrate ourselves wholly and daily to our new master, the Lord God. This act of consecration is “our reasonable act worship” as Paul puts it. In today’s post, I would like to look at consecration, a vital practice and its implication to our lives as Christians.
Christians are followers of Jesus Christ, that is, they obey the teachings of Christ and they imitate him in everything, seeking to be like him and please the Father in heaven. Moreover, as followers of Christ, Christians are also people that have been set apart for God and this is probably the part we often forget. Just like the Israelites were set apart for God, abstaining from certain foods, false gods, and other things, living in a manner usually alienated from the nations around them, we too have been redeemed to live lives that are completely different from the world around us, revealing God’s glory to the world. Like Paul says, “we are not our own anymore” (1 Corinthians 6:19). When we belonged to the flesh, we would do whatever our flesh wanted but now, we obey Christ and we take captive to Christ any and every thought that is not in obedience and submission to the will of God in our lives (2 Corinthians 10:5). This means, our daily life must be a life of consecration. Consecration according to the dictionary is the action of making or declaring something sacred. There is a sense in which we are already consecrated by the blood of Jesus Christ, the fact is that his propitiation satisfied the wrath of God on us and provided us with his righteousness making us children of God but there is another sense in which we have to practice that consecration while living in the flesh on this earth. We have to make a conscious effort of denying the passions of our flesh with its desires to please the Lord and nourish our spirit man. God is Holy and whenever we consecrate ourselves, we are dedicating ourselves to Him. We belong to Him in theory but the reality of our lives sometimes does not reflect that truth. The jealous nature of God welcomes consecration from His ransomed ones. When we set ourselves apart for the Lord, it is honouring to Him, we are telling Him that He means more to us than any other thing we are putting aside. We are telling Him that we belong to Him and He can do with us as He pleases. Again, this is what we are commanded to do anyway as Christians, being living sacrifices but sometimes, we have to pause and actually take it seriously.
I listened this week to a podcast episode from Revive our hearts which talked about the life of Frances Ridley Havergal the compositor of the song ‘Take My Life And Let It Be’ and the desire that brought forth such a powerful prayerful song. It brought me back to the lyrics of the song which express a clear desire to give God everything that belongs to me. This is the heart posture our Heavenly Father expects from us, this is the dedication and consecration His jealousy can take. He wants our all. I wonder, how often do we think about the resources we have, from our physical body to the external stuff and think to ourselves that it belongs to the Lord? If you’re like me, chances are you think about it in a broad term but your daily life does not necessarily match that belief or worse it actually betrays that belief. I think this time of Lent is an opportune one to start thinking upon these things intentionally in order to give ourselves to the Father as we should. Although Lent is not observed by all, I believe the essence of it, taking a conscious effort to deny the flesh and worldly passions with the sole purpose of drawing near to God by commemorating Jesus’ death and resurrection should be encouraged. I suspect many of us do not think much about consecration because we are self-centered and also because we do not want to pay the price that is attached to it. Our excuse is not knowledge because we often know what to do but fail to do it. Instead, I believe our problem is that we lack discipline – the discipline to start something and finish it; the discipline to wait; the discipline to deny ourselves pleasures for a greater satisfaction later; the discipline of thinking of others as more significant than ourselves (Philippians 2:3). The price for consecration is the price of killing the flesh. This is not an easy thing to do and it is not even something that can be done once and off we go. No, this is continuous, it is a battle and it demands our life’s total attention and devotion. We have to remember that when we consecrate our lives to God, we are doing this so that He may use it for His purpose and His purpose is always better than whatever we could have come up with. I think consecration itself might have a bad connotation because we see the aspect of sacrifice which does exist but we often forget that we sacrifice to gain something far better than what we sacrificed. We are often focused on the here and now, rather than being focused on eternity. My question for you today is simple, how are you consecrating your life today for the Lord? Is it something you think about? Make no mistake, God loves consecration, He is a Holy God after all and He wants you all to Himself. Why not use events like Lent to start living sacrificially? I don’t know what you want to sacrifice or what you should sacrifice, all I know is, do something out of love for the One you claim to love. God honours our sacrifice, our devotion and love to Him. Events like Lent should force us to think that we are set apart for the Lord and must therefore live a consecrated life. It should serve as a reminder that we are from Above. You see, Lent is just a small period but after that our lives continue and so must our consecration. When the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land, Joshua told the people to “consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you” (Joshua 3:5). Having been in the presence of God, Joshua understood the importance of holiness to God and knew that consecration was vital for the Lord. In the same way, Jesus who is our best example in everything only lived a consecrated life. More than fasting and praying, he devoted all that he was to His Father, even his very life. There is nothing that Jesus withheld from God, he gave Him everything and that, my brothers and sisters is our aspiration.
Thankfully, we serve a patient God who is just and treats everyone right. He honours everyone according to the measure of their act. Therefore, however you begin this consecration journey, whether through Lent, a fast of some sort, or a sacrifice, no matter how small, the Lord Himself will know how to reward you. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him after all (Hebrews 11:6). Just remember to press on when you’re on the verge of giving up whatever you set your heart and mind to set apart. Like the author of Hebrews says, “we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” (Hebrews 10:39). May the Lord grant us the grace to live a life of consecration as He requires. Amen!
A Word Aptly Spoken 