Much in the bible speaks of preparing. John the baptist calls people to prepare the way of the Lord in their lives. There's another very old fashioned word that comes to mind with this - that word is "consecration." In numerous places in the bible, God tells his people to consecrate themselves in preparation for a sacred occasion with Him. To consecrate is to do what's necessary to place your heart and your soul in an appropriately prepared position to experience, receive, and respond to a holy experience with God.
I try to give thought to how I consecrate myself in preparation for important God times. I've learned for instance that I have to do this on Saturdays before I preach and teach on Sundays. Almost always on Saturday nights, I try to avoid distractions and things that would move my spirit away from a God centered place. I need to be quiet, I need to be able to think and to pray. I find that in doing this, I am able to enter into Sunday morning with my spirit more in touch with God's Spirit and I feel much more able to teach from a place of being in sync with God.
"Okay," you might say - well sure, you're a minister. Yup.
But God didn't only tell his ministers and priests to consecrate themselves. He told all of His people to do so - to prepare their hearts and spirits in advance, to meet with Him.
When God meets with us, He wants to plant and grow seeds in us - seeds which are the life of His kingdom - the life of His Spirit. I imagine my soul like a field in which a farmer is going to plant seeds. The quality of the preparedness of the soil is a major matter if the seeds are to get in the soil, take root, grow and bear fruit. If the soil is unprepared, hard, dry - the seeds aren't going to get in. My soul is like that sometimes, more times than I wish - unprepared, hard, dry. But if I prepare the soil, soften it, moisten it, the seeds can get in and some incredible God-life can take root. This preparation is called consecration.
I'd love to invite Christians of all types to reconsider this idea of consecration - of preparing to meet with God. Perhaps this would be on a weekly basis in preparation for worship on a Sunday. Or this week particularly I'm thinking about Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. I'm going to try to be mindful of preparing my soul.
Last thought - please don't turn this into a heavy churchy prohibition thing. It's not. It's a life giving invitation - to experience the life of God.
