2 Chronicles 29:34: Conscientious Consecration.

Before moving on to look at the next chapter in 2 Chronicles, I want to pause and linger over some words in (34): …the Levites had been more conscientious in consecrating themselves than the priests had been.

For the King’s church in Boston Spa, our overarching theme in 2014 is: ‘Climb higher, go deeper.’ We want to foster spiritual growth in each and all. We desire to see personal growth and growth together as a church. But there always will be those who ‘climb higher’ and ‘go deeper’ than others. There will always be those among us who, like the Levites in today’s passage, seem to be more determined to make progress than others. There are people who really mean business with God. The problem is that we so often admire them when we ought to emulate them. We applaud them when we ought to be following in their steps. We write them rave reviews instead of asking them to be our mentors.

At our family service held last Sunday morning, we had a height chart on the wall. Many different people, of all ages were measured. Of course what we found was that some grow taller than others. There are no surprises there. We all know that where there is life there will be growth and some grow bigger than others. There isn’t a lot we can do about our height. There are a lot of genetic factors involved. But if we are alive, and we take adequate nourishment, we will grow and achieve our biological potential.

Similarly, in our spiritual walk, we too will grow if we feed properly. We need regular interaction with the Scriptures; not only reading but reflecting on the meaning for our own lives and making concrete application. This ‘eating’ and ‘exercising’ will contribute significantly to growth .And, in one sense, we can choose how ‘tall’ we grow. (At this point the parallel breaks down, because here is something we can’t do in natural life.) But we can decide that we are going to get bigger and bigger in God , with His help . As J.Oswald Sanders said, ‘We are at this moment as close to God as we really choose to be.’

How conscientious is your consecration? Some students were talking about a Bible College lecturer. ‘He’s very serious isn’t he?’ one said. Well, it’s not good to be humourless, but when it comes to the Bible, how can we be other than serious in our approach? On television programmes like ‘X Factor’ it’s a bit of a cliché for contestants to be interviewed and you hear them say, ‘I really want this’ or ‘I want this so much.’ If you want to grow spiritually, don’t just talk about it. Get on with it. Be conscientious in your use of the spiritual disciplines and watch where it takes you; see what God will do with that.

Writing about this chapter (and especially verse 27, but his words are pertinent here) F.B. Meyer  said: ‘Cleanse the house of the Lord. Bring out all the uncleanness. By self-examination, confession, and repudiation, be clean of all the filth which has accumulated through months and years of neglect. Resume the position of entire devotion, as a prepared and sanctified soul. Offer the sin-offering for the past, and prepare the burnt-offering of entire consecration for the future. And when that is offered, when you determine to be wholly God’s, lay yourself, with all the interests of your life, at the feet of Jesus, for his disposal; then the song of the Lord will begin again.’ Great verses through the Bible, p.160.

Prayer: Lord, help me to be conscientious about being your disciple.