A Consecrated Life

“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” (Romans 12:1). Our bodies are a very practical expression of something “under our rule,” something that belongs to us in immediate proximity. We have a say over our bodies in terms of what we eat, what we drink, who we have sex with, etc. And we are urged by God to present our bodies to him in an act of consecration.

“Consecration” is choosing to dedicate something to Jesus to be his and his alone. The Hebrew word is qadash, directly related to the word qodesh, which means “holy.” Biblically speaking, the first act of consecration takes place on the seventh day of creation in Genesis 2:3, when God blesses and sanctifies the Sabbath day. From that point on, consecration becomes the precondition for God’s filling something. You can consecrate your body (and please, your sexuality), your money, your time, your dreams and aspirations. The refuge life is a consecrated life, which is to say we choose to bring our lives and all that is under our care into God’s Kingdom and under the rule of Jesus.

Now, of course, consecration is both an act and a lifestyle. We choose to dedicate our bodies to God, and then we live that decision out as we operate in holiness in our sexuality, our appetites, and how we treat our bodies (we are not allowed to abuse them). The same holds true for anything “in our kingdom,” anything under our direct supervision.

So, for example, my morning prayers begin this way:

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