Consecrating Ourselves - Jason

and said to them, "You are the heads of the fathers'  households  of the Levites; consecrate yourselves both you and your relatives, that you may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel to  the place  that I have prepared for it. Because you did not  carry it  at the first, the LORD our God made an outburst on us, for we did not seek Him according to the ordinance." (1 Chronicles 15:12, 13 NASB)

David's order to the priests and Levites were to "consecrate themselves" before making a second attempt at moving the ark of the LORD.  The first time resulted in God striking Uzzah dead because of his irreverence.  David accepted the correction (even though he was angry) and made sure it wouldn't happen again.

I hope my lessons don't come down as hard as this but I'm learning more and more on what it means to be "all in" or "consecrating myself" for the Lord.  The more I'm around the things of God (church, people, scripture...) it can get too familiar; it can become regular or ordinary.  The danger here is making the reverent things irreverent and that leads to death, like Uzzah.

The way we value & steward God's gifts directly reflects on our reverence for God.    Like Uzzah's treatment of the ark, I've bent a few rules, put in my agenda and even treated precious things as ordinary.  My marriage is a reflection of that.  I'm not saying that it's in total disarray but it's nowhere near where I know God wants it to be.  I've treated Michelle, my wife, my flesh, as second best.  This happened because I'm still learning what it means to be consecrated, to be set apart for God's purposes.  I cannot have a divided heart to please Him.

Father God, thank You for Your Son and the blood of Jesus.  Jesus, Thank You for washing us clean by Your amazing sacrifice.  Please help me to see Your blood on each object You've set apart for kingdom purposes so I'm reminded of its reverence.  I choose to be holy because You are Holy!  In the name of Christ Jesus I pray, amen.