This weekend was a big weekend for my family. We had my son's dedication at church.
What is Dedication you ask? Is it like baptism?? Well, let me explain them a little.
A dedication service is actually a Parent Commitment Service. “A promise from parents to offer their child to the Lord and to dedicate themselves to the raising of the child for God's Glory.”
We read in Psalms 127:3:
3 Children are a heritage from the LORD,
offspring a reward from him.
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.
This verse gives us as parents opportunity to realize that God has blessed us with an amazing gift to be a parent. He trusts us with that baby or child.
In Deuteronomy 6:5-7 it states:
5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. offspring a reward from him.
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.
This verse gives us as parents opportunity to realize that God has blessed us with an amazing gift to be a parent. He trusts us with that baby or child.
In Deuteronomy 6:5-7 it states:
So a parent I want to raise my kids to Love God with every thing they have! So at the dedication I was declaring that I want to raise my child to know God and to Love God and to always talk about HIM. :)
Ephesians 6:4 challenges parents to guide and teach their children by training them in the instruction of the Lord.
4 Fathers,[a] do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
So at church this weekend our family stood up with our son and we prayed and decalred that we wanted to do the above and our church family get's the privileged to help and guide us as parents too. Jesus was also dedicated by his parents: (Luke 2:22-25)
So what is baptism??
It is a symbol of Christ’s burial and
resurrection. (I Corinthians 15:3,
Colossians 2:12)
It is a symbol of your new life as a Christian,
(2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 6:4) - an
outer symbol that you are a believer. s
So to be baptized you need to be a believer. So as an infant we do not baptize because a baby can not make a decision to follow Christ. We do not believe that getting baptized makes you a Christian, it shows that you already are one and that you are declaring that the old self is gone and a new creation through Christ has been born.
Only your faith in Christ saves you. “For it
is by grace you have been saved, through
faith...it is the gift of God, not by works, so
that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:9
I will be one happy mommy when I get blog about my children's baptisms because then I know they have declared they are Followers of CHRIST!
Comments