“Daddy, you better wear your clothes because this girl will be looking at you.” This was my younger daughter’s advice to me recently. One of her classmates had come visiting. She felt I should not be opening my chest before a 4-year-old “stranger.” She taught me something about consecration.
Friend, you need to understand consecration and God’s expectation over us as Christians. Just as it is with other kingdom truths, consecration is a two-fold experience. There is what Christ did for us, and there is what we have to do with what Christ did for us. Christ has consecrated or perfected us forever, but we have to live the life practically (Hebrews 10:7,14).
My daughter knew enough to know that there’s an inappropriate way to present yourself before the opposite sex. She did not read that in the Bible, but she has been brought up in an environment where a sense of rightness and wrongness has been developed in her mind. She knew enough to choose between good and evil (Hebrews 5:14). She understood consecration, at least, at her level.
Consecration is not first about the outward; how we dress and what we wear. But true consecration will show in our outward appearance. What is inside will naturally reflect on what is outside. Purity of heart will translate to purity of hands (Psalms 24:3-6). The inward work of salvation must translate to an outward life of consecration (Philippians 2:12-13).
God wants us to be separate from the world but not separated (2 Corinthians 6:17). He wants us to maintain contact without contamination. He wants us to be different (Daniel 1:8). He wants us to shine as lights, not get lost in darkness. He wants our lights to shine before men so that they see our good works and glorify God in heaven (Matthew 5:16).
Like my daughter advised me; put on your clothes. Wear holiness. Christ has made you holy, but you have got to put it on (Ephesians 4:24). There is a way a Christian talks (Colossians 4:6). There is a way a Christian dresses (Proverbs 7:10, 1 Peter 3:3-4). There is a way a Christian comports himself in the world (Philippians 2:15). Consecration begins with an inward separation unto God, but it must translate into an outward life. Put on your clothes.
‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria