So what does a covenant with God look like?
Or marrying God (Jesus his Son), or becoming his (the Father’s) children.
Becoming one in your spirit with the Holy Spirit.
Sounds confusing? There is only one God though
but He has multiple aspects we will keep exploring for eternity.
Read also “God with us” about the three persons of God.
Covenant with God is available for all people yet it’s not something to do lightly.
Just like you don’t get married on a whim.
You don’t say yes to Jesus if you intend to divorce him when things get tough.
The reverse is true as well.
He doesn’t ask you to marry him and then divorces you when things get difficult.
When you struggle with your faith. When you struggle with trust.
Even when you become unfaithfull He doesn’t.
It’s permanent were God is concerned.
But what does this covenant with God look like?
Obvious the comparison with marriage only goes so far.
The bible speaks about the words of the covenant and the blood of the covenant in the Old Testament in Exodus.
In the New Testament changes were made to the covenant yet the essence wasn’t changed.
The Old Testament gives us a clear understanding of what this covenant looks like.
It was an agreemant between God and the people of Israel that extends to all of us.
It was never exclusive for the Jews.
Anyone who wanted to join them could!
The same goes today.
God choosing a people for himself shows first of all that He is the one that chooses us and not we him.
It also shows that it’s personal and exlusive like marriage.
All are welcome to take part of this covenant.
God chose us all.
God is not limited to marrying one person like we are.
He is not limited by space and time.
Yet you can’t marry him and have other gods on the side. So that’s the exclusive part.
If you say yes to Jesus you have to agree to the covenant terms.
Just like in marriage you agree to stay faithfull.
And you might stumble and receive forgiveness,
but your intentions need to be absolutely pure.
No one marries someone knowing they intend to have an affair now and then.
That’s just not going to work.
So what are the terms?
In the Old Testament, which is the old covenant, the jewish people had to be circumcised.
A part of the foreskin was cut of by the men.
In the New Testament which is the new covenant this is not necessary anymore.
Why?
Because it was symbolic of something that now takes place in our lives when we accept Jesus and submit to him.
It was a symbol of them being set apart from all other people that didn’t worship God.
It distinguished them from others and showed their commitment to him.
When we accept Jesus sacrifice on our behalf our life changes.
When we say yes to him, like in marriage, we don’t live for ourselves anymore.
We share our lives with him and live for him.
We live to love him and honor him.
To spend time with him and enjoy his presence.
Marriage was never meant to be a place we go to where our need for love is met.
Only God has that ability.
Rather marriage is meant to give us a safe place and environment were we can express the love that’s inside of us. It’s a place to give, not to take.
Now God is both our Husband and Father.
The Father gives us all the love we need. And Jesus does that as well.
Marriage among people is only a reflection of the unity we can have with Jesus.
It’s never supposed to be a replacement.
Rather it’s something that was meant to flow out of the love and unity we have with God.
To express his love inside us and share it with others.
Circumcision is symbolic for being crucified with Jesus.
Our flesh, our sinful nature, our selfishness, died there with him.
When Jesus died on a cross He basicly said:
I love you more than my own life.
You are worth dying to me.
You are worth suffering and pain so I can have you
and be with you forever.
Being crucified with him means that when Jesus died we died.
It means that because of Jesus death God considers the penalty for our sin to be paid.
In his eyes we died with Jesus and therefore our debt is erased.
Our sentence is served.
However just as Jesus showed us how much He is willing to do for us, even suffering,
it also is a picture of how we die to self.
We in turn say to him:
I am willing to lay down my life for you.
I don’t live for myself anymore but now I live for you.
And out of that love for him flows loving others more.
It’s not our own ability though to lay down our lives for God and others.
It’s because we died with Jesus that we now are able to love selflessly.
God gives us a new heart, a new nature when we accept Jesus.
His Spirit now comes living inside of us.
And now we can actually live with people in harmony.
Without biggering and fighting all the time.
Because that’s the result of putting ourselves first.
Now we are able to put others first and therefore we can live in peace.
And the interesting thing is that if we all take care of others first then everyone’s needs are met.
Without having to demand and fight for it but from sheer love.
But also we need to keep in mind that God always provides our needs even if others don’t and therefore we can affort to love selflessly without having to be afraid to be in need ourselves.
To be continued….
Creator's Joy 