Rededicate

It is one thing to be dedicated. It is a beautiful thing as well. To realise that you have been set apart for a particular cause and commit yourself to it with the resources available to assist you in that cause.

It is a big deal as well. It’s a marker for you. Where others maybe uncertain or may not even see the value of the concept of being dedicated to a cause, at least for you for the given season, there is that degree of clarity. It might feel as though you’re constrained in a way, but that’s only about channelling all that is in you for the maximum benefit. It is ensuring that your character, gifts, abilities and personality are not wasted or spread ineffectually on that which doesn’t matter. The focus is clear in the dedication.

However that dedication takes place, as long as you are consciously aware of it, there is a milestone you can refer to in your journey. A key milestone at that to remind you and guide you in your quest.

This milestone is very useful when you go a certain distance into the course. Over the terrain and in the journey the winding, twisting and varied environments can take its toll. The rigours can be wearing and other factors can seek to tug at you, looking to distract you or dissuade you. That is why it is good from time to time to remember the dedication and indeed rededicate yourself to the cause. There doesn’t have to be a crisis or drama to trigger the rededication. No great wrong has to take place. It can just be that recognition that at this stage of the journey, having served as you have, you express your commitment and embrace afresh the cause and renew the vision you given for the role you play.

In the context of walking with Jesus, the significance cannot be understated. Being dedicated to Christ is really something you commit to yourself. No one does it to you or for you, with all the best intentions and prayers of loving ones, being dedicated to walking with Jesus is something we do ourselves. The dedicated walk is not smething we can do on our own, but the step of dedication is one that we make on our own. That dedication to Jesus then takes you on a fascinating journey to all kinds of places – and that’s as much a journey of self-discovery as anything. So it’s not about making massive geographical moves, it is about what it means to know Jesus and realise who you are as a result.

The journey establishes that being dedicated to Jesus brings us into family relationship with the Father and the other children of God. It brings us to the responsibility to serve others with everything we receive from God. It brings us to the stewardship of the message we have about Jesus making the most of sharing that message however and whenever we can. It brings us to the solemn and awe-inspiriting privilege of being an ambassador for the Kingdom of God representing heavenly values on earth, displaying the rule and reign of the Almighty in everyday encounters.

It takes a lot. This is why He gives a lot and He gives His best for the task – His Spirit freely given for us to be full to the point of overflowing is on offer. Ever available to us as we go along the journey.

In that call and those responsibilities it is healthy from time to time to just rededicate ourselves to God again. Express and establish once more that we do not belong to ourselves. We have been purchased to belong once more to the Creator, our loving Heavenly Father. In that light as we belong to Him and no other, as we walk with Him and no other, as we live for and in Him and no other, so we dedicate ourselves to Him again.

As we do so, we see the joy and delight there is in knowing Jesus as Lord and Saviour and looking to be totally committed to Him now and forever.

(Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash)

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden