Consecrating Ourselves – the meaning, basis, and purpose of our consecration

Stanza 3 of Hymn #473 says

Arise! the holy bargain strike-
The fragment for the whole
All men and all events alike
Must serve the ransomed soul.
All things are yours when you are His,
And He and you are one;
A boundless life in Him there is,
Whence doubt and fear are gone.

For us, the saved persons, to consecrate ourselves is a reaction to the Lord’s salvation. Since we have enjoyed the Lord’s great and free salvation, we spontaneously desire to repay the Lord. When we consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we allow the Lord to gain us to the uttermost as our repayment to Him.

1 Cor 6:19-20 “You are not your own…For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body”

Consecration is based on the Lord’s love. But it is also based on the Lord’s right. “You are not your own“. The basis of our consecration to the Lord is that, since He bought us with His blood as a price (Rev 5:9), we have become His purchased slaves. We who believe in the Lord and who are redeemed and bought by the Lord are the purchased slaves of the Lord; we are not our own, but the Lord’s. It is the Lord, not we, who has the right over us. We have been purchased with the highest price. He bought us not with silver or gold, but with His own blood. Here we see the Lord’s love as well as His right. We serve the Lord because He loves us, and we follow Him because He has a right over us.

Rom 14:8 “For whether we live, we live to the Lord, or if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s”
2 Cor 5:14-15 “For the love of Christ constrains us, having judged this, that one died on behalf of all; therefore all died; and He died on behalf of all, that those who live may no longer live to themselves, but to Him who died for them and has been raised”

Since we who are redeemed and bought by the Lord belong to Him, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. The purpose of our consecration to the Lord is to live to Him. Living to Him is higher than living for Him. When we live for Him, we and He may still be two, but when we live to Him, we must be one with Him, taking Him not only as our life but also as our person. Praise the Lord that He is the consecrated One, and in all our living and actions, we should take Him, allowing Him to live Himself through us!

The Bible tells us that the holy garment of the priest is for glory and beauty (Exo. 28:2). All who have been saved by grace are priests and are qualified to consecrate themselves. Consecration is God giving us glory and beauty; it is God calling us into His service. If we boast in anything at all, we must boast in our marvelous Lord. There is nothing marvelous for the Lord to have servants like us. The marvelous thing is for us to have such a Lord!

Arise! the holy bargain strike – The fragment for the whole!
We should say to the Lord “Thank You that I can have a part in Your service. There are so many people in this world, yet I am chosen to have a part in it!“

Consecration is our honor, not our sacrifice. It is true that we need to have the greatest sacrifice, but there is no sense of sacrifice in consecration. There is only the full sense of God’s glory.

The Hebrew word consecration means “to have one’s hands filled.” What then is consecration? It is the filling up of both hands with Christ. We have touched the Lord’s love and recognise His right. We believers, who have been chosen and redeemed by God, are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which He prepared for us to walk in (Eph 2:10). This requires our consent and the offering of ourselves to Him that He might work on us to complete His good works.

Praise Him. Every day our we should have a fresh consecration by enjoying the consecrated one, the one who was absolute for God and who is making us the same as He is. Source: Consecration (Watchman Nee), Life Lessons (Witness Lee) [guest post: bro. Moh]