From a sermon preached by Florence Crawford on July 16, 1926.

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Consecration means “to offer, to devote, to yield ourselves; to set ourselves apart for some holy purpose.” It is only through the mercy of God that we can offer or devote ourselves to God. It is only through the Spirit of God that conviction can rest upon the heart. The Spirit goes out into the world and calls, or draws, men and women unto God; and it is His mercy to our souls that this conviction rests upon us. It all goes back to the goodness of God, His grace and power.

Romans 12:1 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” The Apostle Paul said, “A living sacrifice.” It is not a dead sacrifice. When we present our bodies as a living sacrifice it means that we dedicate, or separate, ourselves to God. Let come what will, we are to continue to keep ourselves devoted, separated unto God. If we could only realize what that really means!

Doing the Father’s will

Christ was willing to submit Himself to the Father’s will. His utmost desire was to do the will of the Father. He might have looked ahead to the Millennial Kingdom, when He is going to reign as the King of kings with those whom He has redeemed from this earth. He might have looked ahead to the time when He was going to sit in Glory at the right hand of God the Father. But it was not so. His delight was to do the will of His Father who is in Heaven, and that purpose led Him to His death on the Cross. That desire in His heart, that perfect willingness to obey the will of God, took Him through the Garden of Gethsemane, through Pilate’s judgment hall, and to the Cross to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Continual consecration

In John 17:19 we read that Jesus said: “I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified.” There was something marvelous in that perfect offering of Christ, when God sent Him to this earth and He took on the form of flesh that He might be a Redeemer and a Savior. There was something in His heart and in His life that made Him a perfect example for us. Some may think, Well, I have made my consecration, and now I am saved. God will take me through some way. But our consecration must be complete; our consecration must be continual. We must give God our lives as living sacrifices. We are not our own; we are bought with a price. We have been redeemed by the Blood of Jesus, not with “corruptible things.”

After we are born again, we must consecrate our lives more fully to be sanctified wholly. To be baptized with the Holy Ghost, we must consecrate still more deeply. At times, we must consecrate to be healed by the Blood of Jesus Christ. After all those experiences of consecration, there yet remains a constant consecration that must go on as long as we live.

Separation

Luke 14:25-26 says, “And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” Many people would say: “You people testify that God has united homes and that there is love existing in the home. Then you turn around and say that Jesus says unless a man hates his father and his mother, his wife, his children, his brother, his sisters, yea, even his own life also, he cannot be a disciple.” This is a part of the mystery of Christ. The natural heart cannot understand the spiritual things concerning the Word of God. The natural man would say, “That is a contradiction.” However, it is no contradiction at all. The hate which Christ speaks of is not a carnal hate; it is that determination to not allow any living soul to stand between oneself and God. The follower of Christ will hate anything that separates from God.

In Deuteronomy 13:6-8 we read: “If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him.”

That is the “hate” that is to exist in you—a resolve in your heart to withstand even those of your own household if they hinder you or cause you to serve other gods or, in other words, would cause you to draw back from fully following the Lord. At times, people will look back spiritually and then try to get somebody else to look back with them. It is not for any of us to look back because somebody else does. The thing for us to do is to press on in spite of everything.

We can be kind, we can be tender, we can be loving, and faithful to everyone in our household, and yet never compromise with them on spiritual matters for a moment. And that is the way God wants it done. Because of our loyalty and our standing true to God, many times they will be brought to the Lord. So there is a double blessing in standing true to God and not compromising with one’s people.

Let us look at Luke 14:27, “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him.” Those who will not present their bodies a living sacrifice to God, who do not consecrate and go on through with God, sooner or later they are going to fall by the wayside and be a reproach to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Inner consecration

There was a time when Abraham was called to make a consecration—not the consecration of something that God had given him, but a deep, inner consecration. God had called him to leave the land of Ur of the Chaldees and go to Canaan. The time had come when God would strengthen his faith by sacrifice. He had to have it planted in his heart to believe God. God spoke to this man and he obeyed: he brought his sacrifice as God told him to, placed it on the altar, and waited there for the fire of God to come down and witness to the sacrifice. (We read about it in Genesis 15:7-21.)

The fowls came down and would have taken the consecration off the altar, but Abraham stood there watching it and drove the fowls away—which is typical of our consecration to God. When we put something on the altar, we must keep it there. After we have made our consecration, the enemy of our souls may come and say: “It isn’t necessary to consecrate this. You don’t have to consecrate that. Other people have received things from God without having to make such consecrations.’’ That is the “fowls” trying to take your consecration off the altar. It might be possible that God did require the other people to make the consecration, and if they had made it and had given all to God, He would have rewarded them and given them much more than they have received.

The fowls of the air came down on Abraham’s sacrifice and he drove them away, until his heart was so burdened that darkness settled down upon him and he fell asleep. Many people have consecrated and agonized with God, and poured their souls out unto God until they just felt helpless. They are, as Abraham was, ready to fall prostrate under the load of the extreme agony of their consecration. It is at such a time that God will let the smoking fire come down and consume the sacrifice that is given, and the witness is there that the work is done.

Oh, that God would give us in our innermost souls that lesson on consecration that will bring forth the fruit! We look so much to what others do and say, and what God permits others to have—but you don’t know how God has dealt with others. It is not for you to look at others. Jesus said to Peter, when he was so much concerned about John: “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me” (John 21:22). Let us get our eyes on God; let us make our own consecrations.

I have wondered many times if we realize what it means to make a sacrifice unto God, a consecration that will cost us something. If we only would go down before God in consecration, in presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God! If the love of God could be perfected in every heart, I believe the whole world would feel the influence of that love. Your influence is felt. You never can tell how far your influence may be felt. A perfect consecration will give you a holy influence. How much the world needs that influence! It is that which will help to build up Christ’s Kingdom on earth.