Skip to main content

Make It Your Covenant!

Covenants?  Hmm, sounds way too restrictive! 

A covenant, just to be clear, is a solemn and binding agreement.

So who really wants to be bound to something? 

There are covenants in some neighborhoods.  You enter into such by being part of a HOA or Homeowner’s Association.  Such are designed to keep the neighborhood looking nice.  That can be a good thing.

A marriage involves a covenant, or at least that’s how it used to be viewed.  In fact, some marriage ceremonies still use wording that indicates that the couple is entering into a covenant of marriage.  This is the “through thick and thin, till death do us part” covenant stuff.  That can be a good thing. 

Would you say about a covenant that involves things of incredible value?  Would that be a good thing? 

See what covenant some people of old made to bind themselves to that which they believed had value well beyond what you could ever imagine:

“And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul.”  (2 Chr 15:12)

You might wonder where is this incredible value?

Consider the following:

“God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”  (Acts 17:27)

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.”  (Ps 34:4)

“The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.” (Lam 3:25)

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  (Matt 6:31-33)

Read those verses again. Let them wash over you.  Things are of incredible value are mentioned and they are, as the saying goes, just scratching the surface.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Year Trash or Treasure?

You probably know the old saying:  “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.  I am not going to try to prove or disprove it, just look at it from a different angle. Cheryl and I were recently walking on a beach in Florida .  A man was walking along with a bag and was picking up trash and putting it in the bag.  Was he picking up things of value? We also saw a different man walking along the same beach with a metal detector.  He would swing it back and forth and would occasionally stop and dig in the sand.  Was he looking for things of value? Both were intent.  Both were focused.  Both were diligent. I’m guessing that the one picking up trash was not looking for things of value.  I’m also guessing that, by picking up trash, he was valuing the beauty of the beach and didn’t want the trash to mar it.  The one with the metal detector, I’m guessing that he was not looking for metallic items of trash but was looking for...
1 comment
Read more

Don't Get Tripped Up

I do enjoy traveling and I keep an eye out for good prices. I also enjoy looking at trends in travel. For a while, the travel industry focused their advertising on taking those trips that might be on your bucket list.   That faded a bit and I started seeing ads about taking the trip of a lifetime. I guess both those campaigns have been waning since I’ve been seeing information about taking an “epic” trip.   Recently I noticed the phrase “unforgettable trip” in advertising.   More recently, I’ve been seeing promotions about taking “sustainable” trips and even “reconnecting to our roots” trips. As I’ve been pondering these advertising campaigns, I thought I’d consider what their ideas encompass and then look at them from a spiritual perspective: 1.   “ Bucket list trips ” are based on a list of the experiences a person might hope to have before they “kick the bucket” (i.e. die).   While I can certainly come up with a bucket list of trips, I’m thinking a bu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Above My Pay Grade!

We like things that we can study, know and understand.  Sometimes we find it difficult to accept that there are things that might be hidden from our knowledge and understanding. The Scriptures indicate that there are some things hidden by design:  “The Lord our God keeps certain things hidden. But he makes other things known to us and to our children forever. He does it so we can obey all the words of this law.”  (Deut 29:29) Some versions of the Bible translate the hidden things as “secret things”.  Regardless, there are things which have been revealed and things which are kept hidden from us and remain secret. We may chafe at having to deal with the fact that some things remain hidden, but that’s often when faith and trust come in.  The Psalmist wrote:   “O Lord , my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.”  (Ps 131:1) The Psalmist seem to realize that th...
Post a Comment
Read more