Baby Dedications
Pastoral Care at North Ridge Community Church
Baby Dedication (Implied In The Scriptures)
Luke 2: 21-22
21On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise Him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived. 22When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
Mary presented Jesus, her first-born son to the Lord in Jerusalem. Jesus was not baptized until He was 30 years old, but was presented when he was 40 days old. Hannah, the mother of Samuel dedicated her son to the Lord in this story:
1 Samuel 1:24-28
24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. 25 When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, "As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. 27 I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of Him. 28 So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD." And he worshiped the LORD there.
Every parent should realize that children are a heritage from the Lord. They are a reward from God.
Psalm 127:3, "Lo, children are a heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."
It might be wise, but not necessary for a parent to "officially" dedicate their child to the Lord in a public service. That is between the parents and God.
The leadership of North Ridge Community Church recommends that parents take their children to Sunday School and church on a weekly basis (don't send them, take them). The leadership also recommends that parents strive to have a Christian home where each parent is a believer in Jesus Christ, a student of the Bible and a man or woman of prayer. No religious leader or religious ordinance or sacrament can make a child right with God. Only his or her faith in Jesus Christ can save them when they are of age.
Parents should not fear for the child, but for themselves that they will live a good example and testimony before their children while they are growing up so that child will not be turned off by hypocrisy.
