Consecration

Question: What is meant by "consecration"? How often should a person consecrate himself?

In today's usage (which, by the way, is NOT the way the Bible uses it), the word "consecration" means the surrendering of oneself and all that one has wholly to God. The word "sanctify", as it is used in the Bible, has practically the same meaning when it is applied to sanctifying ourselves. It means to "set apart" for God.

Every person should consecrate himself to God once and for all. He should put into God's hands all that he is and all that he has, so that God may use him and everything that is his as He wills, send him where he wills, and do with him what He wills. Having thus consecrated himself, he should never take himself out of God's hands. However, many people do consecrate themselves to God and afterward go back on their consecration, as Samson did, and they are shorn of their strength, as Samson was. (Judges 13:2-5; 16:1-19).t In such a case, a person should reconsecrate himself to God. Even when a person has not gone back on his consecration, it is a good thing to constantly re-acknowledge it so that one may keep it clearly in mind.

Furthermore, consecration gets a deeper significance the longer we live. At one time in our lives, we may wholly give ourselves up to God as far as we understand it at the time. However, as we study the Word and grow in grace, consecration will continually gain a deeper meaning. I believe I have been wholly God's for many years, but only yesterday I got a deeper understanding of what it means to be wholly God's than I have ever had before.

~R. A. Torry~