True Consecration

Consecration begins with the emptying of the self. To empty oneself simply means to give up oneself to whatever the object of consecration is. The level of consecration depends on how much of the self is being emptied or given up. True consecration of the self is not the giving up of individual parts (strength, emotion, or wisdom, etc.) that belong to the self in a separate manner but the surrendering and presenting of all aspects of the self as a whole, altogether at once. Christ demonstrated true consecration to the Father by giving up all of Himself---the very nature of His divinity, thus "being found in the appearance as a man" (Philippians 2: 6-8). As followers of Christ, our consecration to Him therefore begins with the giving up of who we are---the very nature of our humanity. It is then, when we have totally given up, emptied of ourselves, that we can allow Christ to fill us with Himself and, along with Himself, true humanity. Humanity is manifested in personality. Our own personalities reflect who we are but not who we really ought to be---our real selves. We can know and become our real selves by acquiring real personalities found in Christ as we give up ourselves to Him. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity: "At the beginning I said there were Personalities in God. I will go further now. There are no real personalities anywhere else. Until you have given up yourself to Him you will not have a real self." There must be a real giving up of the self if the real self is to be found. Lewis described it as "throw it (the self) away 'blindly'." We need to take off "the old clothes" of ourselves before we can really put on "the new clothes" of Christ. And since we don't have "the new clothes" with us to begin with, we must look for it---as Lewis put it: "Your real, new self (which is Christ's and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him."
The essence of true consecration is that Christ gave up His divine Self to become like one of us, so that by giving up our mortal selves to Him, we may, more and more, become like Him.