Reflections on a Consecrated Life
Our seminary lessons always have such great quotes as part of the devotional, and yet I've found that when I take the time to go read the entire talk from which the little blurb was taken, I learn even more. Isn't that wonderful?
Here was today's thought:
To consecrate is to set apart or dedicate something as sacred, devoted to holy purposes. True success in this life comes in consecrating our lives—that is, our time and choices—to God’s purposes. In so doing, we permit Him to raise us to our highest destiny.
But Elder Christofferson had so much more to say on the subject! Here are some more of the bits and pieces of his talk, Reflections on a Consecrated Life, that stood out to me.
The Lord’s law of consecration is an application of celestial law to life here and now.
The consecrated life is a pure life.
Consecration therefore means repentance. [This includes] submission, a desire for correction, and acceptance of all that the Lord may require.*
A consecrated life is a life of labor.
Work builds and refines character, creates beauty, and is the instrument of our service to one another and to God. A consecrated life is filled with work, sometimes repetitive, sometimes menial, sometimes unappreciated but always work that improves, orders, sustains, lifts, ministers, aspires.
A consecrated life respects the incomparable gift of one’s physical body, a divine creation in the very image of God.
As our body is the instrument of our spirit, it is vital that we care for it as best we can.
A consecrated life is a life of service.
Those who quietly and thoughtfully go about doing good offer a model of consecration.
A consecrated life is a life of integrity.
Integrity is not naiveté. What is naive is to suppose that we are not accountable to God.
*See Mosiah 3:19, also this quote by B. H. Roberts: “The man who so walks in the light and wisdom and power of God, will at the last, by the very force of association, make the light and wisdom and power of God his own—weaving those bright rays into a chain divine, linking himself forever to God and God to him. This [is] the sum of Messiah’s mystic words, ‘Thou, Father, in me, and I in thee’—beyond this human greatness cannot achieve.”
Here was today's thought:
To consecrate is to set apart or dedicate something as sacred, devoted to holy purposes. True success in this life comes in consecrating our lives—that is, our time and choices—to God’s purposes. In so doing, we permit Him to raise us to our highest destiny.
But Elder Christofferson had so much more to say on the subject! Here are some more of the bits and pieces of his talk, Reflections on a Consecrated Life, that stood out to me.
The Lord’s law of consecration is an application of celestial law to life here and now.
The consecrated life is a pure life.
Consecration therefore means repentance. [This includes] submission, a desire for correction, and acceptance of all that the Lord may require.*
A consecrated life is a life of labor.
Work builds and refines character, creates beauty, and is the instrument of our service to one another and to God. A consecrated life is filled with work, sometimes repetitive, sometimes menial, sometimes unappreciated but always work that improves, orders, sustains, lifts, ministers, aspires.
A consecrated life respects the incomparable gift of one’s physical body, a divine creation in the very image of God.
As our body is the instrument of our spirit, it is vital that we care for it as best we can.
A consecrated life is a life of service.
Those who quietly and thoughtfully go about doing good offer a model of consecration.
A consecrated life is a life of integrity.
Integrity is not naiveté. What is naive is to suppose that we are not accountable to God.
*See Mosiah 3:19, also this quote by B. H. Roberts: “The man who so walks in the light and wisdom and power of God, will at the last, by the very force of association, make the light and wisdom and power of God his own—weaving those bright rays into a chain divine, linking himself forever to God and God to him. This [is] the sum of Messiah’s mystic words, ‘Thou, Father, in me, and I in thee’—beyond this human greatness cannot achieve.”
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