“The result of consecration is that we are caused to cut off all our relationships with people, matters, and things, and especially to abandon our future and wholly belong to God. We need to consider this matter also in the light of the offerings of the Old Testament. When a bullock was taken for sacrifice and offered upon the altar, he was immediately cut off from all his previous relationships. He was severed from his master, his companions, and his corral. After he was consumed by fire, he even lost his original form and stature. All his choicest parts were changed to a sweet smelling savor to God, and all that was left was a heap of ashes. Everything was cut off, and everything was finished. This was the result of the bullock being offered to God. Since our consecration is also an offering to God, the result must also be the same. There must be the giving up of everything to be burned to ashes by God to the point where all is finished. If evidence of this relinquishing of all things and burning to ashes is not seen in a man, there is something wrong with his consecration. Some brothers and sisters still have hopes after their consecration of becoming such and such a person. This proves that their future has not been given up.

The future we are speaking about includes not only our future in this world, but also our future in the so-called Christian world. We all know how the world naturally attracts us and offers the hope of a future in it, but even the so-called Christian world holds an attraction to us and offers a hope of a future in it. There are some, for example, who hope to be famous preachers, some to be world-wide evangelists, and some to obtain the degree of doctor of divinity. All these are hopes for the future. Brothers and sisters, if we have been enlightened, we will discover that even in our hope for more fruit in our work, our hope for more people to be saved through our gospel preaching, our hope to lead more brothers and sisters to love the Lord, and our hope for more local churches to be built by our hand—even in these hopes—there are hidden many elements which are for the building up of our future. When we see the prosperity of others, we become envious. When we see the achievement of others, our heart is moved. All this proves that we still have hopes in our own future. All these hopes, however, never exist in a consecrated person. A truly consecrated man is a man who has given up his future. He abandons not only his future in the world, but also his so-called spiritual future. He no longer has hopes for himself in anything; all his hope is in God. He lives purely and simply in the hand of God; he is what God wants him to be and does what God wants him to do. Whatever the outcome may be, he does not know and does not care. He only knows that he is a sacrifice, wholly belonging to God. The altar is forever the place where he stands, and a heap of ashes is forever the result. His future has been utterly abandoned.

This giving up of the future is not a reluctant act after something has already occurred to wreck your future hopes; it is a willing surrender before such an event. It is not waiting till you have lost or failed in your business and then giving up. It is not waiting till you lose your job, till you cannot enter college, or till you fail to obtain a Ph.D. degree, and then give up. It is not this. When we speak of giving up the future, we mean that when a profitable business opportunity awaits you, when an excellent job awaits you, or when a Ph.D. degree awaits you, you willingly give it all up for the Lord’s sake. This is truly called the giving up of the future. Even if the entire glory of Egypt is placed before you, you can say to it, “Goodbye, I must go to Canaan.” Perhaps Satan will continue to call you from behind, saying, “Do come back. We have a Ph.D. degree here and an Egyptian palace for you. This is a rare opportunity.” If at this time you can face him and tell him straightly, “Be gone; these are not my portion,” this then is a true giving up of the future.”

(The Experience of Life, Ch. 3)