Keeping the Terms of the Covenant

UV 3473/10000 Keeping The Terms of the Covenant
Further, God said to Abraham, “ As for you, ( your part of the agreement), you shall keep and faithfully obey ( the terms of ) My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

Genesis 17 v 9

Though man broke faith with God and departed from Him, the Lord sought to bring him back into a close relationship with Him through the means of a covenant, an agreement, irrevocable, sacred, eternal. On our part, we need to commit to obey the terms of the agreement with God. It binds not only us but our children and their descendants. The old covenant with Abraham was later replaced with the new covenant through the Servant Leader, Jesus. The sacrifices of blemishless animals and birds were replaced with the once and for ever sacrifice of the blemishless Jesus. The circumcision of the males was replaced with the circumcision of the human heart- the commitment to walk faithfully, listen and obey the voice of the Holy Spirit in all things.

The serpent leader knows our frailties or infirmities. The serpent leader will doubtless make us swerve from our commitment to listen and obey the Spirit of God. Whenever we fail, we have the opportunity to go back to Jesus, repent and be absolved from whatever caused a violation of the terms of our agreement with God. But we should resolve in our hearts not to have a repeat of the same type of violation ever again. We need the grace of God and the wisdom of Jesus to keep the terms of the covenant faithfully and fully. The covenant relationship with God through the Servant Leader, Jesus is not brittle but resilient. It endures good and bad times. The essence of the relationship is not the rigour of law but the dynamism and power of love.

The Lord Himself teaches, equips and empowers us to keep the terms of the covenant since He knows our inner propensities and weaknesses. He perfects us over time even as He accepts us as perfect by grace and faith the moment we commit our hearts to Jesus. The Lord needs to see a sincerity, a dedication, a firm commitment in our hearts to keep the terms of the covenant with Him. Spending time in prayer and in feeding ourselves with the Word, spending time in fellowship with the Holy Spirit and with other believers are ways to strengthen our resolve, deepen our covenant relationship with the Lord.