As part of the Desperation Vow (HERE) Consecrated Heart is a tough thing. The word consecration brings up a lot of confusion or negative thoughts. We don’t know what it means, or we kinda know and it just doesn’t sound “fun”. Or we totally know, but it is just so hard that we give up trying. Heck, I don’t even know exactly what the word means, but I know enough to know if I’m being consecrated or not, and that, sometimes, is what matters.
Something that David Perkins said about consecration at Desperation Conference this last year is that: “Consecration isn’t about all of the “no’s”, but about the one, all-consuming ‘yes’”. Basically, being consecrated isn’t about everything that we can’t do, but about having Jesus and allowing Him to be an all-consuming component in our lives. He is in all things and He is working in all parts of our lives. C.S. Lewis said something that I think sums this up quite well. “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the best explanation is that I was made for another world”. That is consecration. That the desires of this world don’t mean anything to us in light of the great things to come.
The challenge with this is that we sometimes don’t want it.
John 3:16-21
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
Either we want our darkness, or the people around us want their darkness and persuade us to want our darkness. But as we all know, the best place to be is in the arms of God, submissive to Him and listening to every word he speaks to us.
James 4:7-8
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
The above is largely an incomplete thought. Just what was on my mind right now,
Morgan
Hey man. . . I stumbled upon your blog after being told it was “similar to mine.” I started reading and a lot of the stuff you write about hits home for me as well. . . Just thought I’d tell ya I enjoyed what you had to say! Oh, and I’m pretty sure my parents go to your church in Cheyenne. Small world I guess. Thanks for the words and God bless!