Consecrated Discipleship

          Bruce and Marie Hafen have described a name for a higher level of devotion in the Church, that of being a consecrated disciple of Christ.  “We talk often about the difference between being “active” and “less active” in the Church.  Perhaps we should talk more about the additional distinction between being active in the Church and being a truly consecrated disciple.  Being active is of course a significant indicator of progress.  Yet it is only the emerging stage of our discipleship, the Aaronic Priesthood level, not yet the more mature Melchizedek Priesthood level of spiritual development.” (Bruce C. Hafen and Marie K. Hafen, The Contrite Spirit: How the Temple Helps Us Apply Christ’s Atonement, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2015) 216, also referencing the teachings of Neal A. Maxwell and D&C 84)
         What might be the meaning of this descriptive title, consecrated disciple?  First, the word disciple was often used in the New Testament to identify persons who became followers of the Savior and learners of his doctrines and instructions.  The word is derived from the Latin “discipulus” which means a learner or pupil.  It suggests an ancient educational model in which individuals attach themselves to another person who is an expert or master of a particular craft or field of study for the purpose of themselves mastering that area of expertise or discipline.  It resembles the master-apprentice relationship for learning such things as plumbing, or violin making, or ballet dancing.  In this case, the Savior is the Master and we are the apprentices learning to incorporate his celestial laws into our nature and being that will enable us ultimately to live with him and our loved ones in his celestial kingdom.
         The word consecrated identifies the greatest and perhaps most comprehensive of the celestial laws propounded in our temple ceremonies, “the law of consecration, which means dedicating their time, talents, and everything with which the Lord has blessed them to building up Jesus Christ’s Church on the earth.  (General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 27.2.0)  In some contexts, the word consecration refers to sharing material resources with the poor and needy.  But in general, the word consecrate means to dedicate, to make holy, or to set apart for righteous purposes.  Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “We tend to think of consecration only as yielding up, when divinely directed, our material possessions. But ultimate consecration is the yielding up of oneself to God.” (Neal A. Maxwell, “Consecrate Thy Performance,” Ensign, May 2002, 36.)  Consecration is the covenant God makes “with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33).