Consecrate Yourselves

Consecration is one of those words that we have in the Christian Dictionary that, when spoken it makes us feel both holy and wholly confused. What does it mean, anyway? What did it mean when Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you” (Joshua 3: 5)? He was telling them to make or declare themselves sacred, to set their own lives aside for a specific purpose. And when they did consecrate themselves, God did in fact do amazing things among them.

But what about us? Does the act of consecration apply to us today?

Absolutely.

The consecration of the Christ follower is something that seems to be lacking more and more in the body of Christ. It seems like church-goers want to be “filled up”, but with no real focus or purpose. There is rarely and attitude of setting aside their lives and desires for the cause of Christ, rather, there is merely a setting aside of Sunday morning for the sole purpose of being filled –or even worse, of filling the pew.

I think of the popular song on Country Music radio today:

Sunday morning, at the church,
and my shoes and my back and my neck-tie hurt,
but I’m in the pew,
and she don’t tell me to…

Is that really what church is all about? Pew filling? How about people filling? Is that what the church is all about?

Absolutely not.

We are to be a people who declare ourselves sacred, and completely set aside our own lives for the cause of Christ. Through us the Kingdom of God is to be made known. Through us God’s will is to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We are not to be like the followers of Jesus who, after He had filled their stomachs with miraculous bread and fish, “went back and walked no more with Him” (John 6: 66). We are to be a people who would follow Christ to the very end. As Simon Peter pointed out, “Where else would we go?” Jesus has the words of eternal life. He is the Holy One of God (John 6: 68-69).

It is time to get serious about our faith. It is time to get serious about the Kingdom of God. Consecrate yourselves, people of God. God is longing to do amazing things among you.

Consecrate yourselves.