A CONSECRATED life is a happy life, a satisfied life, a useful and successful life. Consecration is the constant effort to be good, but not from a personal basis. It is the natural outcome of a glimpse of perfection, of something above the evidence of everyday life. The expression of that glimpse of perfection becomes of first value to us; we gladly endeavor to meet every demand, however great; we find that the ability to meet it comes from a deeper understanding of God.
The life of a consecrated Christian is a life of service, comforting and blessing others in response to the Christian's ideal of God as Love. Christ Jesus' life of consecration, however, had a deeper purpose. He said that he had come to bear witness to the truth; that he had come that we might have life more abundantly. By healing the sick and raising the dead, he proved his vision of more abundant life to be the truth he came to bear witness to. It was what he knew of God, divine Life, that impelled him to constant proof of the presence of God's kingdom.
A dictionary definition of the word "consecrate" is "to dedicate or devote to some particular purpose." Christ Jesus gave us the great example of a dedicated life. He understood man's unity with God as His son. He never lost his consecration. In the dark hours of Gethsemane he prayed (Luke 22:42), "Not my will, but thine, be done."
