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Covenant Love – Part 2

 

“…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9

God woos us. He yearns for nearness with His creation. The love He offers is a pure and faithful love. To rest in the love of God day-to-day is to have a deep appreciation and understanding of covenant love. A holy God draws man to himself and promises to be his provider and protector. This is what the Israelites of antiquity who faced oppression and discrimination from the Egyptian rule were offered. God was calling them out of darkness and out of deprived living into a new life and a new identity. Is this not what he offers us today? Growing up, I remember the struggle of being pulled and pushed into an identity not my own. The human condition can easily become bound to false identities due to the stifling schemas formed out of false judgements, fading fads, and the influence of culture. But we weren’t created to be confined to the limitations of man-made labeling.

God calls you by name. You were fashioned by Him before the foundations of the earth. Though the world around you may criticize you and demean your identity, be reminded that you are a child of the Most High God. Draw near to him as his beloved. He repositions you by releasing you from the stumbling in and out of the murk and mire of a sin-scarred world and orients you to stand firm on holy ground, His presence. We are most like our true selves when we embrace God’s immediate presence in prayer. When we commune with God in faith, He enters our space and time and we are able to approach his throne each and every day with confidence. The type of love our Father offers is an eternal, life-affirming journey. His Word sustains our identity.

Covenant thinking not only establishes a relationship with God, it also summons a life of faithfulness. Faithfulness is crucial to a loving covenantal relationship with God because it expresses oneness in Christ. Like a healthy marriage, we are united to our spouse by the bond of love that naturally seeks out and maintains faithfulness. Marriage is a bona-fide union when it seeks to live life together, in a united front that is able to love unconditionally in order to triumph for the cause of its unity. And in the name of that union, it will endure all things. Just as Jesus endured the cross in order to capture our hearts, we too are to endure in Him for the love that has been poured into our hearts by His Spirit.

Be encouraged, get in the Word, and kneel your heart before the Lord’s throne so you can discover the power of covenant love.

Additional verses: Eph. 1:4-5, Ro. 5:5

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