Personal Covenant Making

UV 4220/10000 Personal Covenant Making I have made a covenant ( agreement) with my eyes; How then could I gaze (lustfully) at a virgin? Job 31 v 1 In this uni-verse, Job says that he had made a covenant with himself and specifically with his own eyes not to look with lust on any woman. It is a nice model for us to follow. We can make a covenant with our lips or our tongue not to speak ill of others, not to lie, not to speak scornfully or insult anyone. It is basically about establishing an almost inviolable or sacred principle of conduct not to allow any organ of ours to sin, to fall short of the glory of God. Job had an agreement with himself that he had to honour all through. We can emulate him and set up some penalties when we violate the principle we adopted for ourselves in respect of our eyes, tongue, heart, mind and so on. Was the Lord God involved in Job’s covenant? Yes, for it is a vow or oath that he took with the Lord as witness. Today, in the period of grace under the new covenant relationship, we can ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to tame our tongue, our time, our lust. The Lord is not just a passive witness but a Supporter, a Helper, an Enabler of such personal commitments we make with ourselves. Personal covenant making is a way to make spiritual and moral progress, to curb our natural tendencies and overcome temptations and pitfalls of human nature. It is a way to live the eternal and abundant life, accessing supernatural power. It is a way to strengthen our own otherwise weak and fickle wills. It is a tool or instrument of personal growth and living in favour with God and man. We can make a covenant with our tongues before the Lord not to argue, quarrel, criticize others. In so doing, we are submitting ourselves to the discipline of the Lord and living in accordance with His word. Such a lifestyle of personal covenant making presages the favour of the Lord upon our lives and preempts much folly and vice in our lives. Jesus said, “ If your eye causes you to sin, it is better that you gouge it out than go to hell with both eyes.” He is, of course, only using a figure of speech to underline the importance of disciplining our different faculties of speech, sight and so on. He is underlining the importance of not yielding to the senses, the weaknesses of our flesh nature and to give priority to the spirit and to strengthening it.