Luke 2:21-24
On 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. When the time of their purification according the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), and to offer sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Hear, O Israel: The Lord your God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your hoses and on your gates.
Devotion
In the Old Testament, for forty days a woman was considered unclean after the birth of a child. After the forty days had passed, Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to Jerusalem to present Jesus to the Lord. In the Law of Moses, every firstborn male was to be “consecrated” to the Lord. Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the temple to dedicate Him to the Lord. The scripture says that they offered a sacrifice of “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” The sacrifice was for Mary and Joseph because they were sinners. This sacrifice was not for Jesus.
So, what does it mean to “dedicate” a child to the Lord? Child dedication is a commitment made by the parents to raise their child up in “the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). In Deuteronomy chapter six, we see what this looks like practically. This process begins by the parents’ commitment to love the Lord above everything else. They are then instructed to “impress” God’s commandments into the hearts of their children. How does this happen? We do this through the ministry of influence. As we are raising our children, we are to use our influence to impart our spiritual beliefs and values into the lives of our offspring. This happens as we sit at home, walk along the road, and when we lie down each evening and get up each morning.
The problem in our culture is that we abdicate our role as the main influencer in our children’s lives and allow others who don’t share our beliefs or values to influence them instead. I taught in a private Christian school for nine years. I was discussing this topic with the parent of one of my students. When I told him that he needed to be the number one influence in his daughter’s life, he responded, “That is what we pay you to do.” Child dedication is a serious commitment before God. As go the parents spiritually, so goes the family spiritually!
Questions to Ponder
If Jesus was the Son of God, why would Joseph and Mary bring Him to the temple to dedicate Him? Are you the number one influence in your children’s lives? What other voices are exercising influence in your children’s lives? What does it mean to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength?
Spend some time in prayer meditating on what God revealed to you today.