Who is willing?

the gold for things of gold and the silver for things of silver, and for all kinds of work to be done by the hands of craftsmen. Who then is willing to consecrate himself this day to the LORD?" – 1 Chronicles 29v5

David continued his charge to the people concerning the work of God in building the Temple. Yesterday we saw God’s promise that if they did this work and stayed at it He would be with them all the way through, until the job was done.

Here we find David asking the probing question – ‘Who then is willing to consecrate himself this day to the Lord?’

We think of consecration as a setting apart to a sacred purpose, and that is true here. But I think the word means a lot more. I looked at the Hebrew word briefly and it seems that it has the idea of being totally sold out to a cause till the very end.

Either way, even or a combination of both, the question here is a solemn one. ‘Who will dedicate and set himself apart to the work of the Lord?’

I have most often heard this in a call for a congregation to ‘surrender to full time service’ referring to someone being in a full time vocational ministry. When we think about it this has the implication that anyone who is not in that kind of ministry is not really dedicated themself to the Lord’s work. Those who hold a ‘secular’ job are only kind of dedicated to the Lord’s work.

Not everyone it the Temple were priests and their helpers. We read in the verse that there was all manner of work to be done by the craftsmen. There were metallurgists, carpenters, common labourers, seamstresses (I had to look that up, apparently men and women who sew are both called a seamstress), foundation diggers, and all other kinds of workers. Every single worker was called on to consecrate himself to the Lord and His work.

The application is clear. Who then, no matter what your job, is willing to consecrate himself to the Lord in their work?

Maybe we should reconsider imploring people to ‘surrender to full time Christian service’ and instead encourage people to consecrate themselves to the Lord whatever they do.

I suspect that God will take care of getting those who He wants in a fill time vocational ministry. I also suspect they will be the ones who have already consecrated themselves to the work of the Lord.