(Audio)
For by one offering he has made perfect forever
those who are being consecrated.
All we need for perfection is already done. Of course, we aren't yet perfect. We bear some fruit, but we also produce weeds and thorns. Some seed bears fruit, other seed quickly withers and dies. How can we enter more fully into the consecration?
And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth (see John 17:19).
We need the truth of the word of God. This truth is not philosophical precepts or theological dogmas so much as the living person of Jesus Christ.
The dictionary says that to consecrate is to "make or declare (something, typically a church) sacred; dedicate formally to a religious or divine purpose." Jesus sets himself apart for the Father's purposes in order that we might see what it looks like to be set apart. Jesus is the living fulfillment of the law. He is the living revelation of God that allows us to set ourselves apart for God as well.
This is the covenant I will establish with them
after those days, says the Lord:
"I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them upon their minds,"
When the seeds are planted deeply enough in us what grows is the very divine life of the word of God. This seed will bear fruit by its very nature. There are many wrong ways to tend the garden, all of which amount to not giving the seed due care and attention. We are consecrated precisely when the seed is deep in our good soil, bearing fruit for God.
Jesus is the one who is a priest forever. He is the one who makes us perfect and offers our lives to the Father together with his own. Let us welcome his word. It has the power to save our souls.
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