Skip to main content

A New Covenant

Through the New Covenant, we find our standing as holy children of God. The first (Old) covenant was set aside because it made no one perfect. After all, it was a performance-based system, and no one could perform in a way that met its standards

Imagine walking on eggshells your entire life as you try to do everything written in the law. How overwhelming! For that reason, the Old is now obsolete. It has been set aside due to our inability to cooperate with it:

“By calling this covenant ‘new,’ [God] has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.” — Hebrews 8:13

“The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.” — Hebrews 7:18–19

What does the writer of Hebrews say? The Old is “weak and useless” in its attempts to perfect us. Today, we have a better option – the New.

This new system introduced through the death of Jesus Christ actually works. It places us in perfect standing even though we don’t perform perfectly. Only through the New can we genuinely draw near to God.

When I’m feeling distant from God, it’s because I’ve measured myself and have come up short. This leads me to believe that God must be measuring me by this same standard. So I end up with the false conclusion that he’s distant from me.

Under this logic, how would I get close again? Obviously, the only option would be to achieve in a way that I hadn’t achieved previously.

But the Scriptures are clear: there’s only one way to get close to God – through the New Covenant.  Any other way is a counterfeit that is invariably rooted in ill-conceived parallels with human relationships and driven by moment-to-moment feelings.

GOD IS LOVE

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

KINGS AND PRIESTS

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9) And [now] they sing a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to break the seals that are on it, for You were slain (sacrificed), and with Your blood You purchased men unto God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And You have made them a kingdom (a royal race) and priests to our God, and they shall reign [as kings] over the earth! (Revelation 5:9-10 AMP) We were not saved just to have a ticket to heaven and in the meantime to maintain selfless and sinless lives here on earth. The purpose of our calling is to make known the excellencies of God. We are called to reveal and demonstrate His power, goodness, and love. We are destined to bring heaven here on earth. The term 'royal priesthood' signifies we are both to be priests a...
Post a Comment
Read more

CULTIVATE INTIMACY

Cultivate Intimacy Soaking prayer is not a replacement for reading the Bible, praying, intercession, Christian counseling, or any other Christian discipline. It is the other side of the conversation, cultivating intimacy, going after God’s heart. Then He comes with His hand! I have especially seen this in healing ministry. Healing of issues of the heart, like physical healing, sometimes comes in an instant. But sometimes the healing takes place over a period of time. This is where soaking comes in. Many healing rooms and counselors have a place for their clients to soak before and after sessions with much fruit.  We’ve seen over and over that most of what God does happens when people stay on the floor (or sit in a chair) and keep on receiving, lingering in His presence. We so easily want “McJesus,” but He wants to dine with us! There is always more! Don’t miss it! When you are in that place, He has your full attention, and you have His. Many churches have added soaking prayer to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

YOU'RE RIGHTEOUS

For just as by one man's disobedience (failing to hear, heedlessness, and carelessness) the many were constituted sinners, so by one Man's obedience the many will be constituted righteous (made acceptable to God, brought into right standing with Him). Romans 5:19 AMPC Obey! Obey! Obey! How many times have we heard this preached at us? We are often told that we need to obey in order for God to be happy. Or we need to obey in order to be right with God. But that is a lie! The message of the Gospel is not about our obedience; the message of the Gospel is about Jesus’ obedience on our behalf. We are made righteous because of Jesus, not because of how well we obey. We don’t obey God in order to be made righteous, we obey God because we are Righteous. Put another way, we don’t obey for acceptance, we obey from the Acceptance we already have in Christ. Think about it, we did nothing to become sinners, we were born that way because of Adam. In the same way, we did not...
Post a Comment
Read more