To be truly dedicated takes commitment and long-suffering with much patience. It’s a life-long commitment to follow God’s laws, especially if we have chosen to live that way when God has called us out of this world to something far greater which will only be manifested at its full potential when Christ returns back to this earth to establish His Kingdom. Then we will see what we have been longing for our whole lives. But before we get to that point, we need to evaluate ourselves by truly asking how dedicated we are in the Church of God. As we live our daily lives, being preoccupied with our jobs, school, activities and such, do we sometimes wonder if we are dedicated enough; that is, dedicated in our spiritual lives, what we believe in, and also dedicated to our Bible studies? Are we dedicated to the Work of God and to our calling? We like to believe that this is true since fruits have shown how the Work has progressed, how the Word has gone out, and how we, the called-out ones, have listened and responded.
It takes dedication to keep the Sabbath, ALL of God’s commanded Holy Days, ALL of God’s laws and statutes and to LIVE by them. We devote our time, our efforts and ourselves to a particular purpose, the very choice we made for something far greater.
We have committed ourselves to God because we trust in Him (Psalm 37:5; 31:1-5). We also show a dedication to the Work, which God has indeed blessed and it’s amazing how much we are in fact getting done even with our limited resources. However, with God, there is no limit. God tells us in Proverbs 16:3 that if we commit our works to God, our thoughts will be established. The Work and this Church have certainly been established with much more work to do on the horizon. It requires a lot of faith, patience and trust.
We have also devoted ourselves to God and by doing that, with the right attitude, we can expect God to truly bless us (compare 2 Chronicles 31:4-12). Proper tithing does in fact bring forth blessings, and it does take a certain type of devotion to God to do it correctly with faith, not grudgingly with doubt.
By keeping God’s Law, we sacrifice what the world has to offer, for we have given up something valued in “man’s eyes” for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy. It took a sacrifice to attend ALL of God’s Feast Days and to keep the weekly Sabbath day, for example. What are we sacrificing? By living God’s Way, we are living sacrifices. Romans 12:1-2 states: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
By doing good and sharing, we also offer a sacrifice which is pleasing to God (Hebrews 13:15-16). When we fast occasionally or when we observe the Day of Atonement, we sacrifice the physical food and drink and replace it with spiritual food and drink. We sacrifice for something better by humbling ourselves to God (compare Leviticus 23:26-32; 1 Kings 21:27-29).
By dedicating our lives to God, there is no doubt that God will bless us for it. The Bible proves that God had blessed others like Abraham (read, for example, Hebrews 6:14), and all he had to do was obey. In Haggai 2:15-19 God promises blessings as He says in verse 19. Because we keep God’s Law, we also fear God in the correct manner as explained in Psalm 128:1-6. And when we continue in this way by being truly dedicated, God will bless us! “The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace” (Psalm 29:11).
