Consecrated to Him

For the past nine blogs I have been sharing
The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee.
If you have missed any, go back because
each one builds on previous blogs.

The study has now brought us to the point where
we will discover the true nature of consecration.

"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal 
body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof: 
neither present your members unto sin as 
instruments of unrighteousness; but present 
yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, 
and your members as instruments of 
righteousness unto God.
(Rom 6: 12,13 KJV)

The operative word here is 'present' which occurs
five times in verses 13,16,19. Paul is not speaking
of the 'Old Nature' with its instincts, resources,
natural wisdom, or strength given to the Lord for
His use. No, he says, 'present yourselves unto 
God, as alive from the dead.' For what is here 
refers not to the consecration of anything 
belonging to the old creation, but only that which 
has passed through death to resurrection. When 
I really KNOW I am crucified with Him, then 
spontaneously I reckon myself dead (verses 6,11); 
and when I KNOW that I am raised with Him from 
the dead, then likewise I reckon myself 'alive unto 
God in Christ Jesus. (verses 9,11) 

Death has cut off all that cannot be consecrated to 
Him, and resurrection alone has made consecration 
possible. Presenting myself to God means that 
henceforth I consider my whole life as belonging to 
God. (Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life)

Reader, for many of you this is new. I love going
back over what helped to set me free in Christ a
number of years ago. It becomes illusion when
faced with a culture and church who preach that
'if we do this, then we will get that.' Paul preaches
that first you die, then you are raised to new life as
a new creation. My challenge to you is to be a
'Berean' and study this in scripture as to whether
this be so.