True consecration is never compelled by
God; it is of our voluntary will. God takes nothing by force;
everything is offered up by men willingly. Likewise, our consecration
today must be made out of our voluntary will; it is we who willingly
lie on the altar and dare not move off. Others may move about freely,
but we dare not act in a casual way. Others may calculate and choose
between the sweet and the bitter, but when we encounter a difficulty,
we dare not consider escape. Others can reason and argue with God; we
dare not say even one sentence. Others can evade God's will and avoid
being bound and limited; we would rather be restricted by His will
and willing to be imprisoned in His hand. All this, because we have
already offered ourselves to God and have been laid on the altar. We
are already a consecrated people. We should be able to say
continually to God, “O God, I have no choice; I have already
consecrated myself to Thee; I am in Thy hand.” Whenever anything
happens to us, we must express ourselves in this way to God. We must
remain thus in God's hand and actually be a sacrifice unto God. Only
this is the true meaning of consecration. (The Experience of Life)
真實的奉獻，都不是神逼的，乃是我們自甘情願的。沒有一樣是神自己伸手奪去的，都是人樂意獻上的。照樣，今天我們的奉獻，也該是自願獻上的，自願地躺在祭壇上，不敢動彈。別人可以自由行動，我們不敢隨便動作；別人可以計較甘苦，我們不敢遇難思遷；別人可以與神講理，與神爭執，我們不敢對神多說一句；別人可以避開神的旨意不談，免得受捆綁，受限制，我們卻寧可受神旨意的約束，甘心被囚禁在神的手中。這都是因為我們已經獻給神了，已經放在祭壇上了，已經是一個奉獻的人了。我們要一直能向神說，『神阿，我沒有揀選，我已經奉獻給你了，我是在你的手中。』每當有事情臨到我們身上，我們都要這樣表示，都要這樣把自己留在神手中，實際地作了神的一個祭。這才是奉獻真實的意義。《生命的經歷》
