“King David dedicated all these gifts to the Lord, along with the silver and gold he had taken from the other nations—from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia, and Amalek.”

When we typically use the word “Dedicated” in business we are speaking in terms of how dedicated someone might be to their job or to the company.  We don’t have many instances where we are actually “dedicating” something unless it is to recognize a milestone, achievement or historical reference. That takes time and alignment to want to reflect a person, group, or team for this dedication.  I remember once when we created a creativity award and we ended up dedicating it to the company’s first Chief Creative Officer and company co-founder.  Since then that person has left the company and actually become a competitor.  I should check in and see if that award is still being given in his dedication.  So, there is risk in dedicating things to human beings.  We see it in statues and memorials when later people fall in their reputation.  It is a dangerous thing, so we tend to default into not dedicating anything at all.

References in the Old Testament of dedication are about dedicating those treasures gained in battle and war to the Lord. David and those who followed him continued to dedicate their “plunders”.  Later we learn that we as human beings are God’s treasures and we are to dedicate our lives to Him.  God allows for the risk that we in our lives will always cause some issue that can tarnish our dedication to Him.  But, he continues to ask and accept that we are dedicated to His calling, will and name.  What a gift and challenge this is for us all.  To be dedicated to God is a purpose that can’t be trumped.  We need to each consider what this means in our lives and what we must do to stay as pure and committed as we can.  Today, think about how we should act and react and keep front of mind that we are each to be one of God’s dedications.

Reference: 1 Chronicle 18:11 (New Living Translation)