Consecrate

Consecration is a voluntary act of committing oneself to worship, prayer, and service to God. The word “consecrated” literally means: “to unite by force with the sacred.”......"Who then is willing to consecrate himself this day to the Lord?" I Chronicles 29:5

I have read the above Scripture many times before, but today, it really impacted me. The word "consecrate" really struck me. It's a word not much used or experienced by much of the modern, western church. In the midst of a consumer centered culture, we have become a consumer centered church. Lord, forgive us.

King David spoke the words found in I Chronicles 29 upon his speaking before the people, commissioning his son, Solomon, to succeed him as king, and to undertake the great and holy task of building the Temple of God in Jerusalem. Building the Temple had been the passion of David's life. He sought it as the greatest act of worship he could offer. Yet the Father had told him it was not to be his part to do so, but that of his son, Solomon, to do so. As David told the people this, he spoke of all the gold, silver, precious stones, and so on, that he'd given and dedicated for the building of and ongoing worship in that Temple. He then, in the words of I Chronicles 29:5, asked who among his listeners would join him in this act of dedicated, consecrated worship of their Almighty God? The people responded with a floodgate of offering, not just of precious minerals and jewels, but with the entirety of themselves. They and all they had was consecrated to Him. It was their ultimate act of worship. We understand so little of what moved their hearts to do so. We understand little of it because we know so little and experience so little of what true consecration is.

We link the word "dedication" with consecration quite often. We also prove that we know very little about that word as well. This can be witnessed by the number of parents who bring their children to church in order to "dedicate them to the Lord." The participate in the ritual, and then sadly, their participation ends with that ritual. This is proven by the careless, lazy, and irresponsible ways so many parents "train up their children in the Lord." If we can't be faithful in the consecrating of our children to Him, how can we be so in anything else? 

I think people have become fearful of all this. We link it up with the practice of cults and pagan sects, but it is biblical. Scripture says that we are not our own, but His and this is true whether we believe it or agree with it or not. To consecrate ourselves and all that concerns us is an act of total devotion and trust. It is also an act of telling Him that we'll not give ourselves over to the pursuit of that which is profane or sullies His name. It means that wherever we stand, we stand with Him, and that makes it holy ground. We're to treat it as such. It doesn't mean that we dress in weird robes and go about chanting Scripture or praying loudly in public. It does mean that we live in complete awareness of His presence, of His holiness, and that we have made ourselves completely available to Him for His use at any time and in any place. We have, as Romans 12:1 says, presented ourselves to Him as a "living sacrifice." Our will is completely surrendered to His. There is only one way for us to live this out: we die to our own will so that we can live to His. This is what Paul meant when he said that he had been "crucified with Christ," and that it was no longer he who decided his way, but Christ. All of this is found in the meaning of consecration, and all of this is why it is not a popular topic preaching and discussion in the church today. We are rarely willing to be living sacrifices for Him. We're even less willing to die to our self-will that we may live to His.

There is so much more to say and write about all this. I'll close with the last words of the definition of consecration shared in the beginning. "To unite by force with the sacred." To truly be consecrated by force with Him means that He has done the great work of entirely sanctifying our lives and hearts. This is a work of grace that is accomplished when we freely offer ourselves up to Him, dying to ourselves that we might live unto Him. David called all the people to such an act of worship with the Temple. Christ calls us to such an act of worship, you and me, today. The people responded to David. How will you and I respond to Christ?

Blessings,
Pastor O