And thou shalt ... anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me. Exodus 28:41
XO 28:41{If we look at any Old Testament text about consecration, we shall see that the marginal reading of the word is "fill the hand." Now, if our hands are full of "other things," they cannot be filled with "the things that are Jesus Christ's"; there must be emptying before there can be any true filling. So if we are sorrowfully seeing that our hands have not been kept for Jesus, let us humbly begin at the beginning, and ask Him to empty them thoroughly, that He may fill them completely. For they must be emptied. Either we come to our Lord willingly about it, letting Him unclasp their hold, and gladly dropping the glittering weights they have been carrying, or, in very love, He will have to force them open, and wrench from the reluctant grasp the "earthly things" which are so occupying them that He cannot have His rightful use of them. There is only one other alternative, a terrible one—to be let alone till the day comes when not a gentle Master, but the relentless king of terrors shall empty the trembling hands as our feet follow him out of the busy world into the dark valley, for "it is certain we can carry nothing out.”
Take all Thy vessels, O glorious Finer,
Purge all the dross, that each chalice may be
Pure In Thy pattern, completer, diviner,
Filled with Thy glory and shining for Thee.