Shiko's First Birthday & Dedication

Contrary to what many people might have understood, Child Dedication is not the same as Baptism or Christening. For Born Again Christians like us, baptism is a public declaration of our decision to commit to follow Jesus for the rest of our lives, with the clear understanding that our old self has been crucified with Christ, and that a new life has been given to us when we received Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. Obviously, this is something that a little child (or a baby) could not yet decide on, that is why we do this when a person already has a conscious mind and a free will to make such life changing decision.

Child dedication on the other hand, is our commitment to God as parents that our child will be "set apart" for God's purposes alone. It is a vow to raise baby Shiko with the knowledge and awareness of God's love for him,  and to train him to walk in the commandments and ways of the Lord, not out of duty, obligation, or religion, but out of his genuine love for God. 

The Bible says, that God honors our promises to Him: 

“When you make a vow to the Lord your God, be prompt in fulfilling whatever you promised him. For the Lord your God demands that you promptly fulfill all your vows, or you will be guilty of sin. However, it is not a sin to refrain from making a vow. But once you have voluntarily made a vow, be careful to fulfill your promise to the Lord your God." - Deuteronomy 23:21‭-‬23 NLT

Dedicating a child to God is not just a ceremony that we do for the purpose of ritual or tradition, just like our wedding vows, it bears so much weight, because this is a commitment that we are declaring in front of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. It is a ceremony which should be taken seriously.

Long before I conceived Shiko, I already dedicated him to the Lord. Years ago, like Hannah in the Bible, I onced prayed to God, that if He would ever grant us a child, I am dedicating him/her to His purposes alone. When I got pregnant and when Shiko was born, Mike and I renewed our promise to God as we prayed our prayer of thanksgiving.

Last November 4, Mike and I decided to publicly dedicate Shiko in time for his 1st birthday. As Pastor Bong Saquing mentioned during the ceremony, publicly dedicating Shiko means that we are giving authority to the witnesses (our families and friends who were invited during the event), to rebuke, correct, and remind us should we fail or stumble in keeping our promise to God. What struck me the most in his message was his reminder that "Shiko belongs to Jesus", we do not own him. It is our humble privilege for God to entrust him to us and to be used by him to prepare Shiko for God's plsnd and purposes for his life. No matter what, we should allow God to do whatever He wants to do in his life. He has given, and He has the right to take him away from us. Whatever He decides to do to Shiko's life, we must continue to fix our eyes on Jesus. That last part  is a reality that's not easy for any parent to accept, but dedicating our child to God, means that we are totally surrendering every detail of his life to God's will.

It was a simple yet a memorable occassion. We took the opportunity to share our testimony including every detail of our struggles during the waiting season, and how we experienced the faithfulness of God through it all. We sang and spoke our declaration of blessing to Shiko's life. We are thankful to our family and friends who took the effort to join us in that day of thanksgiving and celebration. Our words could never be enough to give God the glory that He deserves for everything that He has done in our lives! To HIM alone be all the Honor, Glory, and Praise! :)




























Here's the video of the highlights of the event:




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