CONSECRATED TO SERVE

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.  (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NKJV)

The fact that we have been bought with a price, not with corruptible things, as silver or gold, but with the valuable blood of Christ, lies at the foundation of all consecration.

knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, (1 Peter 1:18 NKJV).

In consecration we do not make ourselves Christ's but recognize that we are His by an unalienable right. In the slave market human beings were sold like cattle; but this institution is set forth as the first step in our devotion to the service and person of Jesus Christ, the Lord who bought us. Slaves pass from one master to another. Among the Hebrews an Israelite would sometimes sell himself into slavery until the year of Jubilee, or until one of his kinsmen redeemed him.  So our kinsman, Christ, bought us back from sin and guilt and condemnation; He says, as He buys us: "Ye shall be for Me, ye shall not be for another."

Our Lord's claim upon us is built on His own supreme sacrifice. "He gave Himself for us," says the Apostle Paul, "that He might redeem us from all iniquity" (Titus 2:14). He gave Himself up to the death of the cross that we might reckon ourselves to be dead unto sin. The Apostles constantly speak of themselves as "the slaves of Jesus Christ." Oh, that we might all live like this, counting nothing as our exclusive possession, but believing that all we have has been given to us to use in trust for our Lord and Master. He assigns to us each and all the work that we can do best. Some are called to work for Him in the high places of the Church, and others to toil in lowly obscurity, but everything is important in the great house of the Master, and all He requires is faithful service. I shall never forget when I first understood the ownership of my Lord; that I was His servant, and had no longer any option or choice but to serve Him. The life which was commenced then has been one of perfect freedom, for this is the paradox of His service, that Christ's slaves alone are free; and that the more they absolutely obey Him, the more completely do they drink of the sweet cup of liberty!

PRAYER

Lord, I give myself to You. I am born to serve You, to be Yours, to be Your instrument. I ask not to see.  I ask not to know.  I ask simply to be used. In Your name I plead, AMEN.

God's Daily Promise

Promise #77:
If you live in My secret place, you will find rest under My shadow.

Psalm 91:1 (WEB)
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.