What Side Are You On?

The word, consecrate, stands out to me today. Consecrate: to make something or declare something sacred, blessed, sanctified, make holy, dedicated to God, devoted, reserved, anointed, set apart.

In Luke 2, we read that Jesus' parents took Him to the temple to be consecrated to God. We took that seriously as the template for consecrating our children to God when they were babies. We verbally consecrated them to God and we prayed that they would be set apart by God, for God.

Often, we attribute "consecrate" to only religious people who are becoming pastors, ministers, priests, nuns, deacons, evangelists, etc. But Joshua urged the Hebrews in Joshua 3:5 to: "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you."

Israel needed to remember what kind of people God was calling them to be. They were moving into the Promised Land to establish a nation that would display God’s character and will.

It would fulfill God's promise to bless all nations through His people (Genesis 12:1-3) that would set them apart as His holy people for His work that required holiness in their lives.

The words to this old hymn by Fannie Crosby, "Draw Me Nearer" is my prayer today:
“Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,
By the power of grace divine;
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
And my will be lost in Thine.”

What if we prayed “Lord, I ask you to consecrate (set apart, make holy, bless, make sacred) my family, my children, my marriage and my business.”

That prayer means stepping away from actions that are outside of a "consecrated" life, like the way we manage our finances, the way we treat our spouses, the way we dress and the way we use our time and talents; the way we watch questionable internet sites, movies, literature and the way we love and respect each other.

Consecrating our families means building homes of integrity and honor that will build a legacy; giving God priority in decision making; making God CENTER of everything.

We live in a world where it's often difficult to distinguish whose side we're on, but when we take Joshua's words seriously from Joshua 24:14,15 "Choose you this day who you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," then there's no question whose side we're on. We've been consecrated. We're on the Lord's side!