Skip to main content

God in One Word


            If we are ever going to understand our relationship with God, we need to understand the word “covenant”.
            A covenant is not a contract.  A contract is a fair exchange of goods and services.  Your cellphone contract, for example, states that you will pay a certain amount for a defined amount of access to the cell phone network.  If you stop paying, the contract is broken and you lose your access. 
            A covenant, on the other hand, is focused on individual commitment.  Wedding vows are an example of a covenant.   When people say, “I will love you for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health until death do us part”, they are committing to holding up their end of the bargain regardless of what happens to the other person.  Covenants do not take into account what the other person is doing.  They are only focused on what you said you would do.
            When Jesus says that God “Causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and send his rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45), he is speaking covenant language.  When we are told that “God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son” (John 3:16), we are talking “covenant” because the focus is what God has chosen to do.  It has nothing to do with the worthiness of the recipients.  This point is brought out even more clearly in Romans 5 which states that, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.  Note again that we did not do anything to earn God’s graciousness.  God acted because he was keeping his part of the covenant.
            That God is a covenant keeper is good news because you never have to worry about how he sees you.  God will always love you and treat you better than you deserve to be treated.  He has agreed to operate based on grace, not reward.
            Now, does that mean our actions do not matter?  Not at all!  In fact, God’s grace makes our response that much more important.  His goal is to draw us into relationship with him.  He wants us to sign up for our part in the covenant.  At the end of time, when this agreement is over, he will see who has responded to his love and who has not and that will determine our eternal destiny.
            For now, though, he waits (2 Peter 3:9) and he keeps his covenant (Hebrews 8:8-13).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Noticing.... Seeing what we need to see and what we miss when we don't

 What we focus on in life matters. Here are some scriptural reminders that will help us see correctly.  https://youtu.be/Rn76tV0ZH8s    
Post a Comment
Read more

New Article: A Path Worth Following

  Jehoram was a terrible king.  He reigned in Judah around the year 850 B.C. and he did not care about God or his people.  His first act as king was to assassinate his six brothers so that no one could challenge his authority.  He was brutal and selfish.   Therefore, when the Bible sums up his life, it says, “Jehoram… passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David” (2 Chronicles 21:20).  Did you catch that?  “To no one’s regret!”  What a terrible phrase for your tombstone. On the other hand, consider a lady named Tabitha.  She lived in the city of Joppa in the first century A.D. and we are told, “… she was always doing good and helping the poor” (Acts 9:36).  She became sick and died.  This caused the community so much grief that they called Peter, who was in the nearby town of Lydda, to come and help them.  When Peter arrived, a crowd gathered, bringing all the robes and other clothing that ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This.... Which Way Are You Leaning?

   When Ben Patterson agreed to join three friends climbing Mount Lyell, the highest point in Yosemite National Park, he did not realize what he was signing up for.  Early in the day, it became clear that he was completely unprepared for the task.  In an effort to keep up with his more experienced friends, Ben took a shortcut.  It did not occur to him that there might be a reason the others had not selected this route, but he soon found out why.  Ben became stuck on the glacier.  He could not move up, down or sideways and one wrong move would send him sliding down a forty-five-degree slope to the valley floor miles below.   That is when one of his friends came to the rescue. His buddy leaned over the edge and carved some footholds in the ice.  He told Ben to step to the first foothold and immediately swing his other foot to the second, then his buddy would pull him to safety.  Lastly, his friend gave him one more piece of advice....
Post a Comment
Read more