Taking and Keeping - Real Consecration - Sealed Orders Part 2

This is one in a series of posts, sharing the Sealed Orders devotions, day by day, from CMI 2010.  They are based on the "Consecration Hymn," Salvation Army Songbook #525
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Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, once told a story about a flock of barnyard geese in Denmark. Every Sunday the geese would gather in the barnyard near the feeding trough.

One of their group, a "preaching goose," would struggle up on the top rail of the fence and exhort the geese about the glories of goosedom. He would describe how wonderful it was to be a goose, rather than a chicken or a turkey. He would remind them of their great heritage and tell them of the marvelous possibilities in the future.

Occasionally while he was preaching, a flock of wild geese, winging their way south from Sweden across the Baltic Sea on their way to sunny France, would fly overhead in a marvelous V formation . . . thousands of feet in the air. When they saw this, all the geese would excitedly look and say to one another. "That's who we really are. We are not destined to spend our lives in this stinking barnyard. Our destiny is to fly."

But then the wild geese would disappear from sight, their honking echoing across the horizon. The barnyard geese would look around at their comfortable surroundings, sigh, and return to the mud and filth of the barn. They never did fly.

Our destiny is for growth.  As we come to faith in Christ, some simply remain just as they are.  They could put bumper stickers on their cars which read, “Not Perfect, Just Forgiven.”  The only thing they allowed God to do in their lives was to forgive them.

But God wants so much more for us.

Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

There is a difference between asking God to take us and asking him to keep us. 

The word take implies a one-time event.  Once it’s done, it’s done.  Of course, if I took your slice of key lime pie, I had it at one point.  But just because I took it doesn’t necessarily mean I still have it.  No matter how many times you ask me to take your pie, if you keep taking it back, it never really belonged to me.

The word keep says something about who still has me (or the pie).  If I ask God in my prayer, “Keep my life,” that means I am asking God to maintain possession of my life. 

It’s a difficult prayer, but if you determine to have God keep you, your life will be transformed.

If geese are destined to fly, you and I are destined to remain in God’s hands.

Let Him have you and keep you today.

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Keep my life, that it may be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Keep my moments and my days;
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Keep my hands, that they may move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Keep my feet, that they may be
Swift and "beautiful" for Thee.

Keep my voice, that I may sing
Always, only, for my King.
Keep my lips, that they may be
Filled with messages from Thee.

Keep my silver and my gold;
Not a mite would I withhold.
Keep my intellect, and use
Every power as Thou shalt choose.

Keep my will, oh, keep it Thine!
For it is no longer mine.
Keep my heart; it is Thine own ;
It is now Thy royal throne.

Keep my love my Lord, I pour;
At Thy feet its treasure-store.
Keep myself, that I may be
Ever, only, all for Thee.

 -Frances Ridley Havergal