Devotional 2-20-15

More Than a Promise

Read Gen.9:8-17, Psalm 25:1-10, I Peter 3:18-22, Mark 1:9-15

Above are four scriptures. When you read them, you will find one word either stated or implied in each. That word is covenant. Now, there is a Bible word for you! It is certainly not one I use when posting on Facebook, but it is a word that I’ve heard since my youth. How many times have I looked at a rainbow and thought of God’s covenant with Noah? How would my world be different if God had not issued the Ten Commandments as part of His covenant with Moses?

What is a covenant? I used to think that it was a promise, but it is more than that. If I promise you something, it is up to me to follow through. If we form a covenant, we both have conditions to meet. Along with the shared responsibility, we may also recite an oath and follow it with some kind of sign when the contract is fulfilled. When Don and I were married forty years ago, we vowed before God to love one another as long as we were both alive. Our rings were an outward sign of that covenant.

On Wednesday, February 18, we will again begin our Lenten journey. At its end, we will celebrate the covenant of grace that God formed with us two thousand years ago. What conditions do we need to meet? None. Jesus Christ met them for us. What do we stand to gain? Forgiveness of our sins and everlasting life. What a contract! What a gift!

Join me in singing the following hymn as a prayer of thanksgiving.

The Church’s One Foundation
By Samuel J. Stone
The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
She is his new creation
By water and the Word.
From heaven he came and sought her
To be his holy bride;
With his own blood he bought her,
And for her life he died.
Amen

Becky Warren