This lesson is concerning consecration. Every person should enter through the gate of consecration as soon as he is saved in order to walk the way of consecration. We will consider seven aspects of consecration.
Salvation is the beginning of a person’s spiritual life, not the conclusion. When a person is saved, he is saved once and for all; his salvation is eternal. However, being saved is merely a spiritual birth, a person’s spiritual beginning.
In the Old Testament, when the Israelites held the passover in Egypt, God told them to count that month as the first month, the beginning of the year. Even though it was not the first month of the year, they changed their calendar because God wanted them to consider the passover month as the beginning of the year. Once a person is saved, he has a new beginning before God. This is a new day in life. A person’s physical birth is the day on which he was begotten by his parents. His spiritual birth is the day he was saved and regenerated. Therefore, salvation is a beginning, not a conclusion.
After a beginning, there should be a continuation. This continuation is to present oneself to the Lord. Consecrating oneself to the Lord is the continuation of salvation.
There is a clear type of this step in the Old Testament. Exodus 12 is a record of the Israelites keeping the passover. In chapter 13 God required the children of Israel to sanctify their firstborn unto Him because they were saved through the passover. Whoever is saved by God should belong to Him. In other words, a person should offer himself to God as soon as he is saved. We should never think that our initial salvation is a conclusion. We should be clear that it is only a beginning. After being saved, we need to go on step by step. The first step is offering oneself to God.
A believer who wants to walk the way of the Lord, grow in life, and allow God to work thoroughly in him needs to offer himself to God. He needs to offer himself to God in order to enjoy all the riches in God’s salvation.
As soon as we are saved, God places us on His way so that we can follow Him. In order to follow Him we need to give ourselves entirely to Him. We should say, “From now on I want to be led by You. I will no longer walk my own way; instead, I want to walk Your way. I will no longer decide for myself in any matter; I want You to lead me in everything. I put myself completely in Your hands to let You plan and determine every step of my way. I do not want to choose my own way. I put myself in Your hands; take me and lead me on.” In order to receive God’s leading, we need to have a definite consecration. The Lord cannot guide us if we do not entrust ourselves into His hands.
Once we are saved, there is another life in us that needs to grow. We need to give this life the opportunity to develop so that it can grow daily. Therefore, our emotion must be handed over to the Lord, our mind must be touched by the Lord, and our will must surrender to Him. Then the life in us will have an opportunity to develop. Every living organism needs a good environment in order to grow properly. Suppose we place one baby chicken in a good environment and another in a poor environment. The one in the good environment will grow to be big and strong, and the other will be small and weak. This also applies to plant life. If two trees are planted at the same time in different environments, the one in the good environment will grow tall, and the one in the poor environment will be stunted. The difference in their growth is mainly due to the environment.
All believers receive the same life of God. However, some experience much growth in life even though they have only been saved for one or two years. There are also those who have been saved for many years but who have little growth in life; rather, they seem to be withered and old. This is because some people consecrated themselves to the Lord immediately after they were saved. Thus, the life within them had an opportunity to develop. The others kept themselves in their own hands instead of offering themselves to the Lord. They did not give the Lord’s life an opportunity to develop in them. A thorough consecration to the Lord activates the function of the life within us, making it lively and strong and causing the sense of life to become sensitive. Before consecrating ourselves, we did not feel it was wrong to do certain things. After consecrating ourselves, however, the sense of life causes us to feel that these same things are wrong. Before our consecration we were confused, unable to discern what was of God. But after a thorough consecration, the function of the inner law of life is immediately manifested. Whenever we touch anything that is not of God, the law of life within us operates to give us the feeling that this is not of God; it is apart from God. Similarly, when we touch something of God, this law of life manifests its function, giving us the deep feeling that we have touched something that is pleasing to God. Therefore, the manifestation of the law of life and the growth of the sense of life enable the life in us to grow gradually.