1. “Of their own accord” (2 Cor. 8:3).
The Lord is precious. He is worthy of our consecration. Therefore, our consecration must be voluntary. We devalue the Lord with an involuntary consecration.
2. “As a blessing and not as a matter of covetousness...Each one as he has purposed in his heart, not out of sorrow or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:5, 7).
God never forces people to consecrate; it is a matter of our free will. God loves a cheerful giver.
1. “Do not sound a trumpet before you...Do not let your left hand know...Be in secret” (Matt. 6:2-4).
Our consecration should be in secret. We should not advertise it before man, that is, to “sound a trumpet.” We should not let people know, lest we receive praise and glory from man but lose the reward from God. For the glory of God and the benefit of others, our consecration should be hidden, not revealed.
1. “No longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised” (2 Cor. 5:15).
The goal of consecration is to live to the Lord. This does not necessarily mean that we must become missionaries. It means that, according to the Lord’s purpose and arrangement, we testify of the Lord and glorify Him in all that we do. Our whole living should be according to the Lord’s will and pleasing to the Lord. The choice of our clothing and food, the spending of our money, the use of our time, the visiting of our friends, and everything in our living must be according to the Lord’s heart’s desire and to the Lord, not according to our own will and to ourselves. Such a person, even if he is not a missionary, will be living to the Lord. Although he may not be able to give a message, he will be able to live the Lord so that others can see the Lord in him and sense His presence.
1. “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God” (Rom. 12:1).
A sacrifice is pleasing to God and satisfies Him. When we present our bodies, we are a sacrifice to God. In the Old Testament people offered sacrifices that were dead. Today, however, we present our bodies to God as living sacrifices so that they may be used by God and work for God. This does not refer to “dedicating ourselves to be a missionary.” It refers to presenting our bodies to be used by God according to His will to serve Him. Our body moves according to the leading of the Holy Spirit within us. In this way our body is a living sacrifice for God’s use. Although God has no intention that all His children would be missionaries, He wants each of us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to serve Him.
Once a sacrifice is offered to God, its activity and destiny are determined by God, not by itself. Once we present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, we should act according to God rather than our own ideas. We must be limited by God and follow His will.
1. “Present your bodies...which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1).
We present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice for serving Him. According to the context of Romans 12:1, this refers to our coordination in the service of the Body of Christ, the church. This should be the goal of our consecration.
1. “Present your bodies...that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect” (Rom. 12:1-2).
Our real and proper service toward God must be in accordance with God’s will. Therefore, since our consecration is to serve God, the goal of consecration must also be to follow His will.
1. “We are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand in order that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).
Our consecration to God is not only for the purpose of working for God but even more to allow God to work. We are not only God’s workers but also His workmanship. As God’s workers, we should work for God. As God’s workmanship, we should let God work. We must let God work before we can work for God. God wants to work Himself and all that He has into us, so He has much work to do in us. This requires our cooperation. If God wanted to work on wood or stone, He would not need their cooperation, because they are not living. But when God wants to work on us, He needs our cooperation, because we have a mind, emotion, and will. Without our cooperation, He cannot do anything. Our cooperation is our consecration. When we consecrate ourselves to God, we express our willingness to let God work in us. From the time we were saved, He has been waiting for our consecration, waiting for us to hand ourselves over into His hand to let Him work in us. If we do not have this kind of consecration, God has no way to do the work that He wants to do in us. Therefore, we must give ourselves completely to God to allow Him to work in us as He pleases. The amount of work that we can do for God depends upon the amount of work that we allow Him to do in us. If we let Him work in us, He will work His riches into us by the Holy Spirit, and we will be able to work His riches into others by the Holy Spirit. Will we let Him work? The answer depends upon our consecration.