“You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them that they may serve me as priests.”
– Exodus 30:30
Now this is obviously a specific command given at this point in Israel’s history about the anointing of Aaron and his sons for their service as priests in the tabernacle, so all of that. But then step back for a moment, just kind of broaden the lens, so to speak, and let’s think about what this means, to anoint someone. It means, and Exodus 30:30 says here, to consecrate them. Well, what does that mean? That means to set someone apart. The whole picture here is for Aaron and his sons to be set apart as priests. To be set apart for a particular service.
Exodus 30:30 Reminds Us to Live Our Lives Set Apart
Let us pray that God will set our lives apart for service to Him. May our lives look entirely different from the world around us for the glory of Jesus Christ.
Exodus 30:30 Leads Us to Pray For Our Kids
But when you step back and think about this on a more general level, this, well it’s not the exact same, by any means, but this is a good thing to pray for our lives. A good thing to pray for our kids. God anoint, set me apart for your purposes. God, anoint, set my life apart to serve you. I don’t want to live like the rest of the world lives. God, set me apart. And then don’t we want to pray that for our kids. God, set them apart. Set them apart to serve you. Not to serve the ways of this world. Anoint them, oh God, for your purposes.
So, we’re not praying specifically like Exodus 30:30 in this context is calling us to pray, but we are praying in a more general way. God, right now, we pray, set our lives apart for you. Anoint us for your service. Anoint us to glorify you. Set us apart to live for you today. We don’t live like the rest of this world lives, we don’t want to live like the rest of this world lives. Set us apart for different priorities, for different purposes, for different goals, for different aims with different desires. Not different for the sake of different, but different for your glory, different for our joy, different for the spread of your gospel, for the spread of your kingdom. Help us to live today, set apart.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray To Live Anointed Lives
God we pray for this for our own lives. God we pray for this for our spouses. We pray for this for our children. We pray for this for friends. And we pray for this for our brothers and sisters in the church. God, set them apart. Just think about different believers you know right now. Just to pray for them. Different family members you have, just to pray for them. God, set these people apart. Anoint them for your purposes. God, we pray this for our pastors. We pray for this for church leaders. We pray for this for everybody in your church. Everybody in your church has the spirit of God in them.
God, set them apart, anoint them by your spirit to live today for your purposes. God, help us. Help us to live today for your purposes. Help us to live anointed lives, empowered by your spirit, consecrated by you to live for your aims, to live for your glory, to live for the spread of your gospel. Set us apart in these ways we pray. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
