The Cross and Consecration

Here is the next chapter in Maxwell’s book, Born Crucified.  Some of these stories really hit home.

 

When Abraham Lincoln delivered his address at the dedication of the battlefield cemetery in Gettysburg, November 19,1863, he said: "We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives…. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate–we cannot consecrate–we cannot hallow–this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. … It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work . . . to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us." We speak of Christian consecration. "But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate–we cannot consecrate–we cannot hallow–this ground" of our already redeemed lives.  In His laid-down life the Crucified has already "consecrated it (us) far above our poor power to add or detract." Let us fix our eyes upon Christ. We have already been fastened to the Crucified.  Let us believe that if we be dead with Him we shall also live with Him.

Come. Give Him all. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." The Lord loves a hilarious giver.  Let us launch forth with Him on any uncharted sea. Those who sail the high seas in treacherous  times commit themselves to His Majesty the King: "At your service, Sir, with scaled orders." It was George Whitefield who said: "I give up myself to be a martyr for Him who hung upon the Cross for me. I have thrown myself blind-folded and, I trust, without reserve into His almighty hands."

Miss Ahn, that heroic lady of Korea, had argued with God for some seven years against going to the Japanese Diet and warning that nation against persecuting the Christians for refusal to bow at the Shinto shrines. When she finally yielded to obey God’s call, she sold all her possessions and bought a one-way ticket for Tokyo–to do and die. We say that consecration is "for service or sacrifice." To Miss Ahn it was both. Hers would be a trip to death. She bought a one-way ticket, to return nevermore–by love compelled to obey, to go, to do, and, if necessary, to die. Oh, to be so sweetly constrained by Calvary’s awful compulsion that we can hold out no longer, can no longer resist its attractive force! We are drawn to death–with appetites whetted to eat of the Great Sacrifice.

Frances Ridley Havergal has said: "Full consecration may in one sense be the act of a moment and in another the work of a lifetime. It must be complete to be real, and yet. if real it is always incomplete; a point of rest, and yet a perpetual progression." Let us not be deceived, we shall often be compelled to say with the Psalmist: "God is the Lord, which hath shewed us light (conversion): bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar (consecration)."

Have fun and stay crucified – Galatians 2:20

-The Orange Mailman