Hymn 441
Scripture Reading:
2 Cor. 5:14-15 For the love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died; And He died for all that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised.
INTRODUCTION
God saves us for the purpose of living for the Lord. God has not saved us merely for the purpose of separating us from the world. He has saved us for the purpose of separating us from ourselves. In the end, we will be sanctified, that is, fully separated unto the Lord (cf. John 17:14-19). A Christian who has not overcome is not a happy Christian. He lives in defeat constantly and has conflict in his heart continually. This conflict and defeat occur because he has not consecrated himself in an absolute way to the Lord.
FOUR THINGS THAT MUST BE CONSECRATED
Consecrating People
What is consecration? It is putting yourself and all that you have on the altar. …The first is people, that is, all the people who are related to us. If a man loves many people, the Lord will have no place in his heart. If you have consecrated yourself to the Lord, no one in this world will occupy your heart any longer, and no person can seize your heart away from Him. God saves you in order to gain full control of you. However, many tears are holding you back, many human affections are enticing you to turn, and many broken hearts are calling you to return. You have to say to the Lord, “Whom do I have in heaven but You? / And besides You there is nothing I desire on earth” (Psa. 73:25). Such a consecration is not for the future, but for today; it is something that we can do today. Today we can cut off all human affections and human relationships and give the Lord the preeminent place.
Consecrating Careers
The second thing we should consecrate is our career. We do not need to consecrate ourselves to be preachers. Many preachers today are not consecrated. Rather, we need to consecrate ourselves to do God’s will, to seek after His will, and to find out what His will is for us. A brother, as a high school student, was always the first in his class. He was determined to be the first in his final examination and would not settle for less. He devoted all his time and energy to his study, and his love for the Lord was diminished. Later, he had a breakthrough in the matter of overcoming and realized that it was wrong for him to have such an ambition. He prayed to the Lord, “If it is Your will, I am willing to even come last in the class.” This student was a genuine brother in the Lord. In the end he overcame. He experienced the overcoming life in his academic pursuit. Brothers, if you have any aspirations in your business or career that you cannot let go and if there is anything that you insist on having, you have to consecrate yourself. You have to consecrate your career, aspirations, and ambitions totally to the Lord so that you can do God’s will.
Consecrating Things
The third item we have to consecrate is things. It is easier for a rich man to forsake the Lord than for a poor man to forsake the Lord because the heart of a rich man is with his money. Nothing in this world belongs to us; everything belongs to the Lord. Therefore, we have to consecrate everything to the Lord and put everything we have on the altar (1 Chron. 29:12-16). Many people squander their money. This is not pleasing to God, of course, but some save up their money in a way that does not please the Lord either. For example, a sister would not spend even a dollar in fifty years. Squandering has no place before the Lord, just as thrift has no place before the Lord either. All of our saving and spending will be judged by the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ. Whatever the Lord wants us to spend our money on, we should spend it accordingly.
Consecrating Ourselves
Fourth, we have to consecrate ourselves. Not only should we consecrate people, careers, and things, but we also have to consecrate ourselves. Some think that after one has overcome he does not need to practice obedience anymore. Actually, our overcoming only makes us more able to obey the Lord. Formerly we did not have the strength to obey the Lord. Now that the Lord has accomplished everything for us, we can spontaneously hand over our will and everything to the Lord and allow the Lord to strengthen us with the overcoming life for obedience. This is something that we have to do in a definite way. There must be a definite date to our consecration, in the same way that there is a definite date to a girl’s marriage. A girl cannot say, “I think I was married on a certain date.” In the same way, we cannot say, “I think I consecrated myself on a certain date.” This is something that we need to do before the Lord in a definite way.
GOD’S HEART BEING GOOD
When we consecrate ourselves to God, he will order everything and make it work together for us. Is he not satisfied and pleased with our obedience? Why should he be scheming to deal with us or to give us a hard time? God’s heart towards us is nothing but goodness and kindness. It is true that He does not do everything according to our way, but we have to believe that His heart towards us is good and kind. Although a Christian may suffer tribulations in this world, he can still rejoice in his heart. We can have joy in the midst of our tears because we know that everything that comes upon us has been measured by the Lord’s hand. We have to believe that the Father’s intention is always good. The more we consecrate ourselves, the more the Lord will love us. Before we consecrate to the Lord, we are just one among many Christians. But after we consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we become totally different persons. We are special in His eyes, and He can have the full freedom to work on us according to His good will.
May every one of us place everything on the altar—the people who are related to us, our careers, our possessions and even ourselves—sanctifying all these things to the Lord. May we understand that the goal of His salvation is for us to no longer live unto ourselves but to the Lord who died and has been raised for us (2 Cor. 5:14-15) (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 41, pp. 117-124).
Reference: CWWN, vol. 41, ch. 16. The Experience of Life, ch. 3; CWWL, (1964) Vol. 4, Practical Lessons on the Experience of Life, ch. 3.
