Devotion 5 - Conversion vs. Consecration
2 Cor. 6:15-18 – “What part has a believer with an unbeliever…Come out from among them and be separate…”
We are living in the last days where the work of evangelism will explode mightily and increase abundantly, both in individual nations and cross-cultural mission, and many souls will be ushered into the kingdom of God. However, if we are not mindful of the mandate of discipleship, the church will only experience spiritual addition rather than spiritual multiplication. This is the consequences of “partial conversion”, whereby minds have been instructed but hearts are unchanged. Conversion increases but consecration of lives unto the Lord decreases. He is only God our savior, but He is not the Lord of our lives.
It will be quite sad if there are almost no discernable differences in the lives and value of Christians and unbelievers - if the divorce rate, abortion rate, suicide rate and the data of adultery, fornication, or any ungodly behavior or habit or value, are almost identical for both.
A true conversion to Christianity should result in a fundamental change of life through the change in the core values we hold. There must be a distinctive shift of our worldview to the Biblical worldview. But we don’t see this outcome in many cases. Being conditioned in this age of consumerism, we have approached God as someone who could benefit our lives, rather than the creator worthy of our devotion and service. We tend to see God as ‘useful” rather than beautiful. Many of us treat God as a parachute in the plane. We know that we need to have one but at the same time, hoping we will never need to use it. As a result, we have just merely added God into our lives, but without considering Him in the equation in most of our decision making. We are motivated to think and act according to needs and pressures instead of godly principles. We have traded the gospel of the Cross and a life of surrender to God’s plan and purposes, with religion and a mere commitment to activities of church ministry.
Modern Samaritans
During the first century, the Samaritans were a greatly despised people by the Jews. On the surface, it may look like a cultural discrimination, but on scrutiny, the issue was much deeper. The Jews’ contempt for the Samaritans was sparked by the Samaritans’ attempt to add the worship of Jehovah into their idolatrous practices. They did not turn from their idolatry to serve Jehovah, but instead tried to make Jehovah exist among their idol gods.
During the reign of Solomon’s son, King Rehoboam, Israel was divided into two kingdoms. Samaria was established as the capital city of the northern kingdom called Israel, and Jerusalem the capital of the southern kingdom called Judah. Due to prolonged and persistent disobedience, judgment eventually fell upon the northern kingdom of Israel. The ten tribes of Israel were than taken captive by the Assyrians. This kingdom then repopulated the land of Israel with heathen from other nations (2 Kgs.17:24). And this people were later known as the Samaritans whom the Jews despised.
When the Samaritans tried to settle in Israel, the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of the people. They became afraid and sought the counsel of the priest among the captive Israelites, who taught them how to honor God to remedy the problem (2 Kgs.17:25-28). However, the Samaritans never went on to encounter God themselves nor love Him and make Him Lord of their lives. They merely added Jehovah God into their lives to gain protection but did not abandon their idolatrous practices.
“However, every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt…they feared the Lord, yet served their own gods…” (2 Kgs.17:29,33).
They only worshipped Jehovah as they did their idols, to get protection from the lions. The worship was motivated by self-centeredness rather than their love for God. This unfortunately is an accurate portrayal of some of us today. We have added God into our lives to protect us against eternal judgment, but without turning from self-centeredness. We worship God to gratify us rather that to glorify Him. However, true faith is believing in God to the extent that His principles and command affect our decision making and our behavior.
Authentic Discipleship – Consecration
To build authentic disciples for Christ, the issue of consecration needs to be addressed. We need to be careful how the Gospel is being presented to win souls for Christ. Many are given the impression that Christianity is all about our gratification - God blessing us, healing us, providing for us, protecting us, etc. instead of we laying down our lives to glorify Him. The gospel can never be separated from the Cross – the cross of Jesus Christ, the one who sacrificed Himself in pain and humility for our sins, and the cross we are called to carry each day of our lives to bring glory to His Name. If we only want to appropriate all that He had done for us on the cross without being willing to carry the cross, we are only embracing half the gospel.
Lk.9:23 – “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
To follow Jesus means the willingness to lay down our lives daily for His glory. We are called to “the fellowship of His suffering” (Phil.3:10).
“Go to the people and sanctify them …and let them wash their clothes” (Ex.19:10).
To consecrate means “to set apart”. God had bought the Israelites out of Egypt, but the people must get Egypt out of them. Just as Israel consecrated themselves through the washing of their clothes (a symbol of removing the traces of Egypt in them), we are to cleanse ourselves of all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, to remove the stains of worldly influences over us.
Many Christians are still soiled by the spirit of the world, filled with the desire for comforts, pleasures, and benefits of this world. We are seeking the blessings of Jesus and the rewards of the world at the same time.
Consecrating our lives means to set our lives apart for the glory of God. We are not called to just believe in Christ, but to live for Christ. To lean our ears no more to the voices of the world, to give our hands no more to empty ambitions, and to give our feet no more to pursue our own paths of happiness. A disciple is one whose life is fully devoted to Christ. It is the willingness to say, “Not my will, but Yours, be done.”
We need to learn to consecrate ourselves afresh to Him, for His plans and purposes to work out in our lives. We cannot live victoriously for God until we learn how to live because of God. We exist because of God, and we are here for the purposes of God. Hence, our ultimate purpose is to bring him glory in every aspect of our lives. Our goal is not only to be converted Christians but to be consecrated disciples for Christ.