Consecration of Our Lives

By Samantha Rodriguez

“So I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.”—Exodus 29:44–46 (NIV)

As mentioned in yesterday’s devotional, consecration is an act of setting something apart for holiness in obedience and worship to the Lord (The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible). This entire chapter in Exodus talks about the consecration of the priests through more sacrifices and offerings. In the end, we find these verses that relate the consecration and service of the tabernacle, the altar, and the priests to the abiding presence of God among the Israelites. There’s something beautiful about the connection between God’s holy presence and the consecration of His people.

As we’ve continually seen through these chapters of Exodus on the tabernacle, the purposes of every element within the tabernacle have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ! He has served as the final high priest and the ultimate sacrifice, yet we must not forget that because of this, He has also made a way for us to be consecrated unto the Lord.

Just because Jesus fulfilled these things for us doesn’t mean we have the right nor the ability to continue willfully living in sin. Because of Christ, we now have the beautiful opportunity to consecrate our own lives to God in the way we surrender to Him daily! Paul puts it like this in Romans 12:1 (NIV), “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” In the same way, the priests offered themselves in a way as a sacrifice for the people, we can offer our lives as a living sacrifice for God to worship Him in all we say and do. Not only do our lives become a sacrifice to God in this way, but we also become a part of the priesthood ourselves, too! 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV) says, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

We are a royal priesthood because we now have direct access to God through Christ Jesus, just like the priests did in the Old Testament! The end of 1 Peter 2:9 contains important information as to what we can do due to this new identity: We are to declare God’s praises! We sacrifice our lives as true and proper worship to the one who saved us! We proclaim who He is and what He has done in every small and big way through every word and deed because He is worthy and has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light!

Pause: How have you considered offering yourself as a living sacrifice to God? How have you consecrated your life for Him?

Practice: Write out how you want to consecrate your life to God. Then, put some practical and realistic steps to make this happen starting today and throughout this week.

Pray: Beautiful Jesus, my high priest forever, thank You for inviting me to be a part of the priesthood and properly worship God through the consecration and sacrifice of my life to Him! You made this possible, and I am forever grateful! My life has finally found its purpose. I can live in light because You are the light; the darkness never has and will never overcome You. Thank You! Amen.