LEGACYouth: A Concentration on Consecration

I don't know about you, but whenever I hear the word, "consecration", I tend to let it wash over me.

Not like I have anything against the word; I suppose I just grew up not finding it to be very relatable.

Something about altars, memorials...ehhh. I'll be honest. I never gave it much thought when I was younger.

But as I've found in recent years, consecration packs a pretty powerful punch!*

'Cause when we talk about consecration, what we're actually talking about is dedication...a celebration, if you will, of our sanctification...and the privilege we have in coming clean.

But before you get all Hillary Duff on me, "selah" on this quick-hitter from Joshua 3:5:

“Consecrate yourselves, for [this year] the Lord will do amazing things among you.”

Whoa! That's pretty awesome stuff, isn't it? Knowing we can make an action a lifestyle...and in doing so, experience restoration and transformation through Christ.

Let's see what else the Bible has to say about consecration...

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“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to [consecrate] your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” ~ Romans 12:1-2

“I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once [consecrated yourselves] as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.” ~ Romans 6:19

“Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” ~ 2 Timothy 2:20-21

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So basically, when we take a mean pulse of these Scriptures, we find to "consecrate" is to make straight the way of the Lord in our lives. 

It's drawing a line in the sand with the intent to relentlessly follow Jesus, embrace what is holy (consecration literally means "association with the sacred"), and let the past be past.

And I know it can be easy to get the Mufasa tingles when the word "covenant" comes up. 

But that's exactly what consecration is all about: establishing a convenant between you and God and separating yourselves from anything that contradicts the word and character of God...while being faithful to let Him replace what you're leaving behind with greater faith in His promises.
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But while we can sit here and chit chat about definitions and metaphors, at the end of the day, I believe it's imperative we make "consecrate" an active verb in 2015, as opposed to a passive one. 

No, I'm not suggesting some awkward bathing ritual or tearing of clothes as a symbolic act of cleansing. Contrarily, I'm suggesting we hammer stakes into the ground, stakes that represent the very things we desire God to accomplish and increase in us this year**.

So I encourage you, my friends, to be the holy nation He's called us to be, "a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

[For] once you were not a people, but now you are God's people." ~ 1 Peter 2:9-10

What better way to celebrate this by a concentration on consecration. 
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Footnotes

* How's that for a late night shot of alliteration?

** Whether this represents things we want to be set free from, things we want to claim as our inheritance...anything we want to commit to the Lord for the sake of being more like Him.

Image by Conversant Faith


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