Pressing Deeper into God’s Encounter (Consecration)

Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

Exodus 3:5

Yesterday, we examined the subject of how to respond to God’s encounter. Through Moses’ act of drawing nearer to the place of the encounter, we realised that encounters are not designed to be one-off distractions, but rather the starting point of something bigger. The only way to fully experience these encounters is to press deeper.

However, as we press deeper into God, we are greeted by different things. One of them is consecration. Exodus 3:4-5 tells us that “When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

Moses thought that since he made the first approach and nothing was wrong, then things could just continue that way without any consequence or law guiding this move. He was wrong! He was immediately introduced to the law of consecration: a key component of continuous experiential knowledge of God. 

In the Bible, the word consecration means, “the separation of oneself from things that are unclean, especially anything that would contaminate one’s relationship with a perfect God.” Consecration also carries the connotation of sanctification, holiness, or purity.

The Bible tells believers to be a holy people, separate from the world: “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:17). Being consecrated is a critical component in our relationship with God and with those in the world. Paul tells us, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:1-2).

In other words, as true believers in Christ, the act of consecration involves our lives being a living sacrifice to Him; therefore, we are totally separated from the defilement of the world. Each day, we are to live out our lives as a “holy” and “royal” priesthood to the glory of God, for we are now God’s people (1 Peter 2:9-10).

PRAYER