True Dedication

The word "dedicate" means "to set aside for a special use; to devote, as to duty." In the Gettysburg Address, President Lincoln declared, "We are dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure."

This nation, therefore, is a dedicated nation. I am sure that one of the things that has made this the great nation that it is, is that sense of dedication--dedication to the rights of the individual. And as our fathers declared, certain truths are self-evident, and that we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. In other words, this nation was established with the idea that God's rule would be the rule of our law. Thus we have the inscription on our coins: "In God We Trust."

As individuals, we also must be dedicated to something higher than ourselves. We must be dedicated to a worthy cause: dedicated to God. In the siege of Paris in the 29th century by the Prussians, General Meade called to his gunner, Pierre Barlow, for instructions. "Do you see that bridge across the river down there?" Pierre answered, "Yes, sir." General Meade then replied, "In that clump of trees, just to the right of the bridge there is a house. We have reason to believe it is enemy headquarters. Do you think you can hit it from here?" The gunner tensed a little, but answered. "Yes, sir." When orders came to fire, very careful and deliberate aim was taken and the first volley demolished the house. When General Meade turned to congratulate the gunner, Pierre Barlow stood at attention with tears streaming down his cheeks. The general asked him, "Gunner, why do you weep? That was an excellent shot!" But the gunner replied, "Sir, that was my house."

The apostle Paul, in the Philippian letter, the third chapter, spoke of his life as being a life of dedication in a similar way. He said, "Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13,14).

It was that kind of dedication that carried Paul through all manner of persecutions and difficulties. When he was beaten, when he was shipwrecked, when he was stoned, when he was in constant peril, where there were all manner of anxieties and trials upon him, it was this dedication that carried Paul through the crisis. When he was returning to the city of Jerusalem , a prophet of God foretold that, if Paul went to Jerusalem , he would be made a prisoner. The brethren in the church began to entreat Paul not to proceed. But Paul's reply was, "What do ye, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 21:13).

This kind of dedication made Paul a great servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and enabled him to say, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me" Gal. 2:20). Since Paul was not really the one living, since it was not his life, then he was able to bear those great ordeals. This was one for the Lord. And thus, Paul sets forth the only kind of life that will please the Lord--a life that is dedicated to the Lord, and to the doing of the His will.

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