Consecrated to God doesn’t mean eating nothing but soup for two weeks, as a former co-worker once declared. Nor is it being dedicated to the church activities we perform; although consecration could include these things. But activities in and of themselves don’t characterize being consecrated to God. In fact, oftentimes, the busyness of activities gets in the way of walking with and investing intimate time with the Lord.
Basically, consecration has to do with our everyday lives. It is a life of personal holiness; of living in the attitude of giving ourselves over to God that we may be sacredly used. As such, we set ourselves apart from the sinful ways of the world; and glorify God to others by way of our good behavior, godly conversation, and holy living.
Romans 12: 1 says to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice to the Lord. That is the scriptural picture of consecration. Our bodies, meaning our whole lives, day and night are offered up to God.
The consecrated holy life is also related to our sanctification, which is two-fold: divine and human. Divine sanctification is the Holy Spirit working in our hearts to make them clean. Consecration is self-sanctification. We see the two working together as a necessity in Lev. 20: 7, 8—“You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the lord your God. You shall keep my statutes and practice them. I am the Lord who sanctifies you.”
Moreover, to be consecrated to God, there will be continual praying. For prayer is related to consecration in three ways. (1) It must precede consecration; (2) it must accompany consecration; and (3) it is a direct result of consecration.
Unless prayer is involved in these ways, we’re only fooling ourselves; it may look spiritual and oh-so religious, but it wouldn’t be consecration.
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Luke 1: 74, 75—“We…might serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.”
1 Cor. 6: 19, 20—“…Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”