Dedication to What?
Dedication to What?
THE SET OF THE SAIL
A.W. TOZER
Sail, Don’t Drift
I find the greatest thing in this world not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind, and sometimes against it, but we sail, and not drift, nor live at anchor.
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
CHAPTER 15
Dedication to What?
IT IS ONE Of the ironies of modern life that after a word has been dropped from the Christian vocabulary because it no longer expresses any vital content in current church religion, it is often taken up by the world and made to mean not the same thing but something close to what it once meant in its original Christian usage.
Such a word is dedicate. This word in its various forms was once used to express a sacred idea deriving straight from the Scriptures. Though the exact English word is not found in our Authorized Version, the idea runs from Genesis to Revelation and all through Jewish and Christian history.
A noticeable change has come over the word in recent years, a semantic degeneration that has secularized it almost completely, and oddly enough the dictionary definitions unwittingly follow the word down: “Dedicate. 1. To devote to the service or worship of a divine being. 2. To set apart to a definite use or service. 3. To inscribe by way of compliment as a book.” That is the way a late dictionary puts it, and in so doing furnishes its own spiritual commentary.
Now I have no quarrel with mere words. Whatever current usage and an up-to-date dictionary declare a word to mean, that is what it means, whatever it may have meant before. But I am concerned when men mistake earth for heaven, confuse this world with the world to come and borrow sacred words to describe secular things—without knowing what they have done. That is precisely what has happened to the word dedication. Through a radical change of meaning it has been lost to the language of worship. And it is highly significant that up to this moment Christians have not felt sufficient inward pressure to create a new word that would mean what the old word once meant. Apparently not only the word is gone from us but the idea as well.
One reason for this is the current imperfect understanding of the Christian message. Scarcely anyone catches the imperious note in Christ’s words. The Christian message has ceased to be a pronouncement and has become a proposition. Its invitational element has been pressed far out of proportion in the total scriptural scheme. Christ with His lantern, His apologetic stance and His weak pleading face has taken the place of the true Son of Man whom John saw clothed with a garment down to the foot, girt with a golden girdle, whose head and hair are white like wool, whose eyes are as a flame of fire, whose feet are like burnished brass and whose voice is as the sound of many waters. The Christ of the tentative smile and air of puzzlement is not the Christ of God. The artists have been guilty of inadvertent idolatry in presenting to the world a false image of Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal our Lord as He really is, and He does not paint in oils. He manifests Christ to the human spirit, not to our physical eyes.
Any public figure who is honest and who takes his job seriously is sure to be called a “dedicated man” by some reporter or news commentator. The word is even used to describe persons deeply concerned about wildlife refuges or the conservation of natural resources. It is also applied to ball players and stock car racers, and not long ago a young bullfighter enthusiast spoke to me in defense of that gory and perilous sport. He explained simply that the Spanish matador risks his life in the bullring “because he is a dedicated man. The people want the thrill of seeing the bull killed and he puts his life in jeopardy to furnish that thrill for them.”
The “dedicated” matador would likely win some sort of prize for sheer absurdity and may be allowed to stand as the uncrowned champion of all those who seek to waste their lives in the most foolish way. But dedication to vanity is not confined to bullfighters. The truth is, dedication of the life to any thing or anyone short of God Himself, is a prostitution of noble powers and must bring a harvest of grief and disappointment at last. Only God is worthy of the soul He has made in His own image. To devote our lives to any cause, however worthy, is to sell ourselves short. Not money, position, fame, can justly claim our devotion. Art, literature, music also fall short. And, if God is forgotten, even the loftiest and most unselfish task is unworthy of the soul’s full surrender. Complete dedication unto death in the cause of freedom, for instance, is a touching thing and has given to history many of her greatest heroes, but only the God of freedom should have our “last full measure of devotion.”
These are strenuous times and men are being recruited everywhere to devote themselves to one or another master. Let us be careful. No one has any true right to claim my life except the One who gave His own life for my redemption. If He gets my full dedication then I may engage in any good and worthy cause under His Spirit’s guidance. But anything short of complete devotion to Christ is inadequate and must end in futility and loss.
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The previous fourteen chapters are available on request - EPC@Comhem.se
ITEMS AVAILABLE BY A. W. TOZER:
The Pursuit of God, 10 chapters
The Knowledge of the Holy, 23 chapters
The Root of the Righteous, 46 chapters
Whatever Happened to Worship, 10 chapters
Worship, the missing jewel of the evangelical Church, 3 chapters
Paths to Power, 7 chapters
Jesus, Our Man in Glory, 12 chapters
Jesus, Author of Our Faith, 12 chapters
A Cross at the core of the Christian life and living - articles on the subject of the Cross.
As usual, sent on request as ordinary e-mail or as MS Word files via e-mail.
Zipped files are also available via e-mail.
EPC@Comhem.se
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More about 'DEDICATION':
Source: WordNet (r) 1.7
dedication
n 1: complete and wholehearted fidelity
2: a ceremony in which something (as a building) is dedicated
to some goal or purpose
3: a message that makes a pledge [syn: commitment]
4: a short message (as in a book or musical work or on a
photograph) dedicating it to someone or something [syn: inscription]
5: the act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally)
to a course of action; "his long commitment to public
service"; "they felt no loyalty to a losing team" [syn: commitment,
allegiance, loyalty]
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Dedication \Ded`i*ca"tion\, n. [L. dedicatio.]
1. The act of setting apart or consecrating to a divine
Being, or to a sacred use, often with religious
solemnities; solemn appropriation; as, the dedication of
Solomon's temple.
2. A devoting or setting aside for any particular purpose;
as, a dedication of lands to public use.
3. An address to a patron or friend, prefixed to a book,
testifying respect, and often recommending the work to his
special protection and favor.
Read the Source>> dict.die.net
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Now is the Question:
What could we in The Swedish Christianity learn by A.W. Tozer and his words concerning 'dedication'...
/DS
