God's Covenant Design
MARRIED!
Wow! It finally came and I get to call Caitlin, MY WIFE. At first, it didn't hit us, and we were processing that at the wedding. Now when I look at my wedding band on my finger, I am reminded of the covenant promise I made to Caitlin before God and His people. Being Caitlin's husband for almost a month has taught me a lot about her, marriage, and the goodness of God's character. Of course, there are blessings and challenges that I have witnessed firsthand with her, but what is so important is that God remains loyal to his perfect covenant with his valuable broken people.
Covenant
If you are married and reading this, I pray the words I share from the Spirit of God will encourage you and maybe challenge you if He's stirring your heart in a particular way. To anyone single and reading this, I pray these words will enable you to know the majesty of God's covenant we are all made for. The word covenant is used over 300 times in different translations. In the Old Testament is pronounce bĕriyth (bur-reeth), and in the New Testament is pronounce diathéké (dee-ath-ay-kay) which is a set-agreement of a partnership between two parties, a will or testament, having a complete common goal. That is where we get the word "testament" from in the Bible. Old covenant to New covenant. This word is used for business agreements to make new partners, but it is also personal. God created this good world full of potential, and then God appointed humans as his partners in bringing more and more goodness out of all that potential. But what happens later in Genesis is humans do not want to partner with God, but to become better than God by rebelling and breaking his covenant, creating a world on their own terms.
Over and over in the Old Testament (covenant), God makes a covenant of promise with Israel. In exchange, He asks Israel to fulfill specific commitments. Sadly, Israel does not commit to God's partnership. They worship other gods, committing sinful acts with one another, lots of corruption and injustice everywhere. God could have given up on his promise and destroyed Isreal to the ground, but he doesn't. Why? Read Leviticus 26:42;
"I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant
with Issac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will
remember the land."
God keeps his promises and never changes. When Israel was driven out of the promised land, God still kept his promise that one day a ruler from the line of David to be their messiah, and this ruler will keep his covenant with God. This is where we get Jesus, the New covenant.
The New Covenant:
Jesus is introduced into this story as the one who fulfills all of the conditions of the covenants. He is the faithful Israelite from Abraham and David who was able to obey the law indeed. Because we (like Israel) are broken and sinful people, God gave us an example of what faithful covenant looks like by becoming Jesus in human form. We learn from this partnership to put others and God before ourselves and to serve one another rather than just be served by others. In addition, we learn to err on the side of grace by not holding grudges and forgiving each other's faults as our Heavenly Father has forgiven us. We are invited into a partnership with God to be a blessing and faithful people toward others. God's covenant promise drives the biblical story and is the main root of the Christian faith. In Jesus' death and resurrection, we see his steadfast covenant and what faithfulness look like through self-giving love. When we receive, trust, and imitate the love of Jesus, we begin to live as the humans God created us to be. We can once again glimpse the beauty God had in mind when he first created and partnered with humanity. Can you think of one person that is difficult for you to love in your life? How can you partner with God to forgive, love, and honor them this week?
Here's what happened over March!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete