MONDAY July 22, 2019
Living a Consecrated Life
Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or what have you on hand? And the priest answered David and said, “There is no common bread on hand; but there is the holy bread, if the young men have at least kept themselves from women.” Then David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. And the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was consecrated in the vessel this day.”
1 Samuel 21:3-5
David needed supplies but the only food available was the twelve loaves of showbread––holy bread (Leviticus 24:5-6). In Hebrew the word means Presence-bread and it was to remain in the presence of the Lord continually (Exodus 25:30). Ahimelech the priest was sensitive to David’s request. However, Ahimelech gave David one important condition before he gave the holy showbread to him. David and his men must abstain from being intimate with any women. There had to be consecration in their lives.
In the Christian life there is a need for consecration. What does the word consecration mean? A dictionary definition tells us it is the setting apart of someone or anything to the worship, devotion or service of God. The Hebrew word qadash is used for the word consecration and depending how the word is used in Scripture it means “to be set apart, holiness, dedication, sacred or hallowed.”
We are to be vessels of honor serving the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We are servants of Jesus Christ. If my mind, hands, ears and heart are not consecrated––set apart––then how can God use my life? He cannot. We have to live holy lives that are separated to God otherwise we cannot serve a holy God.
It does not take great men to do great things; it only takes consecrated men.
~Phillips Brooks~
For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!