Baby Dedication

I was raised in the Catholic faith. The first sacrament of Catholicism is Baptism. As a Christian who ascribes to Reformed theology, I am well aware that baptizing or dedicating my child does not save his soul from hell.

Eph 2:8-9
"It is by grace you have been saved, though faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast".

Scripture is quite clear on the matter. But I do give thanks for the strong community of believers that the Lord has blessed us with through Sovereign Grace Church of Bakersfield. Beau and I wanted to publicly declare that we will be raising up our children for the Lord. A dedication ceremony calls on the community of faith to hold the parents accountable. If we show blatant sin in our lives or if we are parenting in a way that is inconsistent with Scripture, our church pledges to lovingly speak the truth to us. They also promise to help guide our children up in the way that they should go. What a blessing to be able to draw on the collective wisdom of an entire church.

The dedication was on Father's Day and I really don't remember much of it. Rebecca was about to squirm out of my hands the entire time we were in front. Jackson had been given a donut right before the dedication by a well-meaning family member and was sugar-high. Beau said Jackson kept grabbing Beau's face and demanding, "Cookie. Cookie!" Excellent.

So now we officially have to be godly parents. :) Beau and I had searched the Scriptures for special verses that we could pray over our children. Beau loves Jeremiah 9:23-24:

Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD."

This was our verse for Jackson. For Rebecca, we chose James 3:17:

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere."

These verses are important for us, the parents, to meditate on because they reflect some of our own major shortcomings. We want our children to know that hope and trust should be only in the Lord, and that He is glorified in our weakness. Only He is perfect.