Consecration

These short devotional have been written by Rev Malcolm Duncan, Elim Minister of Kensington Temple in London. They were written in 2024 to help Elim Ministers and members spend time consecrating their lives to God.

Select a day : 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12   (Day 13 on Wed)

There are lots of people who want to see the Church removed from society.

To be more specific they want the Church's role to be pushed to the edge. They want people of faith to shut up about their faith and just bring their works to the table. I am not one of them. We can only do what we do because we believe what we believe. Then there are others who think that before we do anything we should preach at people. If they will not believe what we believe then they should not get our help and support. I am not in that camp either. The Church is not called to force what we believe on other people. We are called to believe what we believe and to live it out by being committed to Christ and committed to serving others. God has called us to be people who do good. And to do good is to mirror the heart and the attitude of Jesus. Let's not create a tension where one does not exist. Our good deeds show people who we are. But we must never force people to listen to our words at the expense of our deeds.

Unfortunately, a lot of people around us have lost faith or confidence in the Church's message because the Church's messengers – pastors, preachers, leaders, chaplains, youth workers and the like – have been bad ambassadors. To paraphrase words that Ghandi once used when asked by a Christian to consider following Jesus, they cannot hear what we are saying for the noise of who we are. This should not be. And the solution lies in consecrated lives.

Before we proclaim to others that God is love, we would do well to let His love flow into our own hearts and lives and ignite a passion for purity and faithfulness in us. Before we exhort others to follow Jesus, we ourselves need to be willing to take up our crosses and follow Him. There is always a cost to consecration. There is always a challenge in commitment to Christ. But there is always a consequence too. Wilberforce once said that one of the aims of his life was to make goodness fashionable again. Consecrated lives are not good in and of themselves, but they point to the inherent goodness, faithfulness and beauty of God.

A proud pastor is not a good reflection of a humble Saviour. A selfish leader doesn't point well to a selfless Christ. A leader with double standards will never have a single-hearted focus on the Kingdom.

People are changed by love, not shouting. Our example may well be as important as our exegesis.

For further thought –

How can you commit yourself to goodness again today – in your own choices, priorities and example? Where do you need to lay wrong behaviours down and ask God to give you a better way? Are there areas of your life and ministry that need to be re-calibrated for the glory of Christ? Who could help you with that?