​November 6

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service — Rom. 12:1.
 
To render all we have to the Lord's service is not only a reasonable thing, but an offering far too small—far less than what we would like to render to Him who has manifested such compassion and grace toward us. And we should feel thus, even if there were no rewards attached to such a consecration of ourselves. But inasmuch as God has attached great rewards and blessings, we should feel not only that a refusal to accept would be an indication of non-appreciation of Divine mercy but also an indication of weakness of mind, of judgment, which is unable to balance the trifling and transitory pleasures of self-will for a few short years, with an eternity of joy and blessing and glory, in harmony with the Lord—Z '00, 170 (R 2642).
 
This exhortation is not given to induce us to consecrate in the hope of getting thereby a great reward; but rather to do so out of a thorough trust in God, a thankful love for the good already received and an appreciative love for the good that God is and does. These qualities, wrought in us by the Truth seen and experienced in justification, enable us to render the Lord our little all, not only in its presentation but also unto its full consummation in death as a sacrifice. If we exercise the power, love, justice and wisdom that the Lord daily works in us, we will be enabled to carry out our consecration unto God's glory, others' profit and our eternal welfare—P '30, 183.
 
Parallel passages: 2 Cor. 10:1; Psa. 50:5, 14; 45:10, 11; Prov. 23:26; Matt. 13:44-46; 16:24; Rom. 6:13, 16; 1 Cor. 6:13, 20; 2 Cor. 8:5; Heb. 10:7; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9.

Hymns: 160, 114, 134, 191, 244, 8, 14.
Poems of Dawn, 37: My Sacrifice.
Tower Reading: Z '14, 86 (R 5422).

Questions: Have I been carrying out my consecration this week? Under what circumstances was my consecration tested? How have I been meeting the calls on my consecration? What has helped or hindered me? What are the effects?

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MY SACRIFICE

LAID on Thine altar, O my Lord Divine,
Accept this gift to-day, for Jesus' sake.
I have no jewels to adorn Thy shrine,
Nor any world-famed sacrifice to make;
But here I bring, within my trembling hand,
This will of mine—a thing that seemeth small;
And Thou alone, O Lord, canst understand
How, when I yield Thee this, I yield mine all.

Hidden therein Thy searching gaze canst see
Struggles of passions, visions of delight,
All that I have, or am, or fain would be— ​
Deep loves, fond hopes, and longings infinite.
It hath been wet with tears, and dimmed with sighs,
Clenched in my grasp till beauty hath it none.
Now, from Thy footstool, where it vanquished lies,
The prayer ascendeth—"May Thy will be done!"

Take it, O Father, ere my courage fail;
And merge it so in Thine own will that I
May never have a wish to take it back;
When heart and courage fail, to Thee I'd fly.
So change, so purify, so like Thine own
Make Thou my will, so graced with love Divine,
I may not know or feel it as mine own,
But recognize my will as one with Thine.