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Our Father who Art in Heaven

For many people, the thought of God as a father is shaped and coloured subconsciously by the relationship that they have/ had with their own fathers, biological or otherwise.

Growing up, my dad was the scariest person I knew.  He was this tall, bearded man that towered over us little children, with a booming voice that filled the room when he spoke. Even my friends were afraid of him. When boys would call the landline, they’d hung up as soon as my dad picked up. Even the friendliest of hellos from my dad sounded scary. It did not help that my dad was also the disciplinarian in our home and a principled one at that! Although my dad was highly approachable, I rarely went to him with my flimsy problems, only the important ones. I would go to him to help me solve math problems or help with my English essays. Everything else, I talked to my mum about. Seeking and getting my dad’s approval was everything. I studied hard in school and tried to always outdo myself term after term because I knew my dad was pleased when my report card was good.

My dad sounds like most people’s image of God: a very tall man in the clouds with a voice that can fill a whole room or the whole earth, very principled, disciplines his children when they sin, can only be reached through prayer and in a specific manner (in church, prayer posture i.e. kneeling with hands clasped and eyes closed, etc.), seems loving  or rather there are things in the bible about Him that say he’s loving but when we look at the relationship we have with him, love is not the first word that jumps out at us. For many people, myself included, the word father does not equate tenderness.

Fortunately, I have lived long enough to experience a shift in my relationship with my dad. While I continue to have the utmost respect I could have for another human being on this planet for my dad, he is no longer the scary man I used to know. His presence does not evoke fear in me. In fact, I would not mind blowing everyone off just to hang out with my dad. As I have gotten older, I have found he is so cool. He’s full of wisdom and experience and is very funny. I find myself reminiscing over our recent conversations and laughing to myself. When he calls to check on me, I feel so special and when he prays for me, I feel loved. His approval is still everything to me so knowing that he will read this post makes me slightly nervous (Hi daddy…!).

So it is with Our Father in Heaven. When one has not developed a relationship with him, it is hard to fathom the depth of love and the tenderness of God. He is this being that we send our requests to and if you have done enough good or you are “righteous” enough, our requests are granted. But as you begin to encounter the Father’s love, the first truth that becomes apparent is that you are loved.

Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! 1st John 3:1 BSB

This is not the kind of love that you have read in the bible countless times… For God so loved the world… and it just does not faze you… oh no no no! This is the love that washes over you; a love that draws you in and makes you feel special.  You feel the love. You feel like you are a child of God. The second thing that changes is your image of  God.

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Romans 8: 15 BSB

When you encounter the Father’s love (I keep referring to the process of encountering the father’s love because many of us have head knowledge of this love but it has not been translated yet to heart knowledge), your image of God changes. There is no fear in approaching Him for perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18). He is no longer this scary personality who is watching us and keeping records of our sin and standing in judgement of us and our actions.  He becomes our Abba Father! His presence becomes everything. We just want to sit at his feet and glean from his wisdom. We are excited to share our lives; our joys and pain with him and look forward to his encouragement and comfort. So when we pray… Our Father who art in heaven… it is not just a phrase from a childhood prayer we learnt in Sunday school. We are actually calling the attention of our heavenly father and with anticipation of having him turn his attention towards us to hear from us.

Lord, I want to love you more than I’ve ever loved before. You’re so easy to adore, Lord I want to love you more.

Yours Truly.

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The big “V”

Vulnerability, the big V is something that you seldom see in churches. As far as I know…church leaders have never sinned in their lives! They never get discouraged…! They never feel like God has let them down…! Oh, and they do not get sick…! I grew up with this mentality of being a Christian and especially as one who was involved in church leadership. I always had to have it together and be well-composed especially for those who look up to me.

I recently listened to a TED talk by Brene Brown on the power of vulnerability and I will summarize what I learned and how I apply it to my walk with God.  From Brene’s research which spanned over a decade she discovered that:

We are hardwired  as humans for connection however, there is one thing that unravels connection in society and this is shame. Shame is simply a fear of disconnection. “Is there something about me that if people knew then i won’t be worthy of connection?” [This reminds me of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden after they sinned; they hid from the presence of God because they were filled with fear and shame].

Shame is universal and is underpinned by vulnerability. Vulnerability is not comfortable or excruciating but it is necessary, and yet people struggle with it so much. According to Brene, we deal with vulnerability by numbing the grief, the shame, the fear, the disappointment, but unfortunately, we are not wired to selectively numb some emotions and leave out others. When we numb all the bad stuff we also numb joy, happiness, peace. We make the uncertain certain- so religion which used to be “I believe in faith and mystery” becomes “I am right, you are wrong. shut up!” We pretend that everything is ok and that the things we do does not have an impact on others.

Through her research, Brene discovered another set of people: A group of people who live life wholeheartedly and have a strong sense of belonging. What she found that those people had in common were that they had courage (to be imperfect), compassion ( to be kind to themselves first, and then to others), connection (the willingness to let go of who they thought they should be, in order to be who they were) and finally vulnerability.

Brene discovered that vulnerability is the core of shame and fear and unworthiness but it also is the birthplace of joy, creativity, of belonging,  and of love. After listening to this talk I wanted to see what the bible says about vulnerability and I was led to many scriptures but I will highlight a few:

  • 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
  • Romans 7:23-24
  • 2 Corinthians 13:4
  • James 5:16
  • 1 Corinthians 2:3-4
  • 2 Corinthians 11: 27-30
  • 2 Corinthians 4: 7

If you read those scriptures you will see a common trend. Vulnerability is about declaring our weakness before others and before God. This allows God’s grace to flow. When we are weak, we leave room for grace to pour in. I will take Brene’s conceptualization a little further to say vulnerability is the birthplace of grace. It is the portal that allows us to receive more of God’s grace in our lives.  I am reminded of a parable of Jesus:

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. Luke 18:9-14 NIV

The pharisee would not allow himself to be vulnerable even in the place of prayer to take a hard long look at his life. And when you contrast the Pharisee with the tax collector, the tax collector encountered grace and was justified (for we are justified by grace through faith.. Romans 3:23-25). I believe Brene was on to something here: those things that bring us shame, fear of disconnection, and unworthiness in other words those things that make us vulnerable are the things that we need to be the most real about with ourselves (because you cannot lie to yourself), to God (because He knows all things) and to others (because vulnerability in the place of confession with prayer, brings healing)

I come broken to be mended
I come wounded to be healed
I come desperate to be rescued
I come empty to be filled
I come guilty to be pardoned
By the blood of Christ the Lamb
And I’m welcomed with open arms
Praise God, just as I am

Yours Truly.

P.S. you can listen to the Brene’s TEDtalk by clicking here

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Losing Control

I tried to fit you in the walls inside my mind
I try to keep you safely in between the lines
I try to put you in the box that I’ve designed
I try to pull you down so we are eye to eye

Just a whisper of your voice can tame the seas
So who am I to try to take the lead
Still I run ahead and think I’m strong enough
When you’re the one who made me from the dust

When did I forget that you’ve always been the king of the world?
I try to take life back right out of the hands of the king of the world
How could I make you so small
When you’re the one who holds it all
When did I forget that you’ve always been the king of the world?

 

Every time I hear this song, I feel openly rebuked by the lyrics because it is so true of me. For those who know me, you know I am a planner. I have backup plans for my backup plans and in every situation, I try to be in control and take charge. Very few people have ever seen me lose control,  or even lose my temper (you do not want to poke that beast though…!) This sunday in church, I was humbled by the sermon that spoke to how 3 groups of people in Mark’s account of the gospel responded to Jesus and I found myself right smack  and sitting pretty in one group. For context, the account is taken from  Mark 3: 20-34. The three groups of people identified are the family of Jesus, the Teachers of the Law, and the disciples that sit around Jesus’s feet. The group I identify with is the family of Jesus so let’s take a look at them, shall we?

Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” Mark 3:20-21 NIV

Many times, I’m like the family of Jesus. I have heard and read about the miracles and the awesome power of God at work in the lives of the ancients and believers today. I pray for others to see and experience God in wonderful and miraculous ways, but when it comes to my own life…it’s a different story! I need to take charge! I trust God to do X, Y, and Z but I make my own plans in case God does not pull through or He takes too long. My commitment sometimes is half-hearted. With my mouth, I say, “yes Lord I trust you completely!” But in my heart, I am like “Okay so how am I going to deal with this!”

I find myself at an impasse.  I realize that I cannot call Jesus the Lord of my life when I am unprepared to relinquish the reins. For someone who is always in control that’s hard. But more than being in control, I sincerely want to please God and so with this post, I remind myself that GOD IS, HAS ALWAYS BEEN, AND WILL ALWAYS BE the King of the world.  I want to go all in with God and let Him have His way. Today I chose to believe fully and utterly “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV) and I give back the areas of my life that I control right back to the King of the World!

Shout out to Pastor Kirk Cowman!

Yours Truly.

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He Rejoices Over Us with Singing

We sing to God in praise and in worship but do you know God sings over you too? He not only sings over you. He rejoices over you.

“Cheer up, Zion! Don’t be afraid! For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” Zephaniah 3:16 NLT

Today I come with glad tidings! I was recently at a Don Moen concert and I got to experience what it means to have God rejoice over me with singing.   It was a very spectacular thing and  I am going to try to duplicate this in the blog. It involves your participation.

Let’s try this together. I want you to sing this verse (meaningfully) to God:

There is none like you. No one else can touch my heart like you do. I could search for all eternity long and find there is none like you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnhUh2tt97Q

Now that you have sung it to God, I want you to sing it again but this time close your eyes and imagine that God is singing this same verse to you.

Pretty spectacular right? Can you imagine the King of Kings in all His majestic glory saying to you, “there is none like you?” And indeed that’s true! There is no one in this entire world that’s like you! So

“Cheer up, [insert your name]! Don’t be afraid! For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

Yours Truly.

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Pursuing God

As a PK, I feel like I have been a Christian since the day I was born, however, in July last year, I made a decision to make a commitment to pursue God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and body.  I committed to fully engage in relationship with God particularly to walk in holiness… no turning back. I even committed to reading The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges (if you are looking for a good book, I recommend this one).

Last week I was taking stock of my life and I started to feel discouraged because I am failing woefully against the measures I put in place to gauge how well this holiness lifestyle is going. I am more than 20 days behind on my Bible-in-a-year reading plan, the things I think about still stink even if I never act them out,  and frankly, some days prayer feels like a chore. I have been asking myself, “what am I doing wrong?” and the answer came to me in church two weeks ago (shout out to Pastor Kirk Cowman).

Like most people who come to know Jesus as their Lord and personal saviour, I started out the year very well-intentioned: to have a relationship with the Lord. But soon enough, it became all about obeying a set of rules as a benchmark of holiness. If I read my bible and pray every day, and do not swear when I am frustrated, or lie, or exaggerate, or backbite, or speak ill of others then I am walking the holiness path- you know that straight and narrow path Jesus talks about. The problem though is that almost every day I go back to square one. These rules are too hard to follow every single day.  It is exhausting! And that’s because holiness is not a result of following prescribed rules and guidelines. Holiness is a byproduct of being in a relationship with God.

At the core and heart of every Pharisee in Jesus’ day was a desire to be holy and they put themselves out there for everyone to see. Oh when they fasted and prayed or gave to the poor, they made a public show of it!  Everything had to be done according to the laws of Moses. If they had computers in their day I bet there would have been one overzealous pharisee who would start a blog called Intentional Pharisee Living so he could show the world what a good Pharisee he was! But hear what Jesus says about their righteousness:

For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5: 20 BSB

Their holiness and righteousness were simply not enough. The holiness that gets you to see God (for without holiness no one will see God) is not the kind that comes from following rules. It’s the kind that you become because you are in a real relationship with Jesus Christ. Have you noticed that couples start to look like each other after years of being married?…such a fascinating phenomenon! That’s the stuff I am talking about.

The more you spend time in relationship with Jesus, the more you become like Him. I realize that I have missed the most important step to obeying the command: Be Holy Just as I am Holy (1Peter 1:16). And this is it:

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord–who is the Spirit–makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. 2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT

The more time I spend in relationship with Jesus, the more I will become like Him as I am changed into His glorious image. The holiness I seek will be a natural expression, a byproduct, of being in a relationship with Jesus.

Psalm 42:1-2 NIVAs the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

Yours Truly.

 

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How I make sense of it all

In my last post When God does not show up, I talked about two things that I believe I should watch when things are not going the way I want them to go and prayer does not seem to be yielding answers. The first was my attitude towards God and the second is what I tell myself to make sense of it all which I described as my self-talk.

When I was much younger my favorite question was why? I’d always ask why this, what that. Over the years, my curiosity about life and the world around us has grown to such enormous proportions. I have not stopped asking why. In my finite mind when I do not know the answer to why this or that, I turn to the Dr.  Google. But when it comes to supernatural things or things for which I have no control the story changes.

I was socialized to never ask God why. God is and has always been the unquestionable God and we sing songs about His unquestionability (This doctrine probably has roots in the story of Job and one of these days we will unpack whether we can or should question God or not). To make sense of why things happen though, I fill in the gap with what I think God is doing. When I miss a flight I tell myself God is delivering me from a plane crash. When I did not get the job I applied for, it was because God was saving me from some possible disgrace or from getting fired later. When I lost my baby, God was saving me from having a child who would be born with complex medical issues and so on and so forth.

The problem with thinking this way and rationalizing God’s work this way is that at some point it stops making sense! How does one rationalize not having food to eat, or getting a terminal illness? or failing an exam? What could God possibly be saving you from? Trying to make these kinds of rationalizations have led many a Christian either down a rabbit hole of a debate about the goodness of God. If God is so good then why does he allow famine? Why does he allow devastating earthquakes? If God was so good then why…? At the point where it all stops making sense for many people, they can only conclude there is no God.

This week I have been thinking about better ways I should respond when It seems like God has not shown up and here are my reflections.

First of all, what do I desire most? The giver or the gift? If I desire the giver (God) more than anything then whether or not I receive the gift (answer to prayer) should not change how I feel about the giver. This eliminates the need to rationalize. This reminds me of the three Hebrew boys: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They had been ordered by royal decree to bow down to an idol and I am sure they must have prayed to God to save them from the impending punishment for disobeying the king but hear what they said: But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden statue you have set up.” Regardless of the outcome, their attitude towards God was not going to change. They had chosen the giver over the gift and He was enough!

Another way to respond instead of rationalizing is to give thanks. When Job was given the news of the death of his children and loss of his possessions and his health, his friends came by to explain why a good God would deal Job a bad hand but see Job’s response to it all: “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD” Job 1: 21 BSB.

My final thoughts are that I need to understand and embrace my primary mission on earth: To show forth the praises of God… in every circumstance… in the good times and the bad… Paul summarizes this concept with these bold words: For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain Philippians 1:21 NIV.

Now as Jesus was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth, and His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him John 9:2 BSB

I must believe everything in my life as a child of God brings glory to God. And likewise, my response to everything in life must bring glory to God.

[I am] a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that [I] may declare the praises of him who called [me] out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9 NIV

In good times and in bad times I must declare the praises of Him who has called me… my life must declare the praises of Him who has called me… and my responses to the situations of life must declare the praises of Him who has called me…

That is my identity. That’s who I am [supposed to be].

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 43:5 NIV

Yours Truly.

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When God does not show up…

This week I have been thinking a lot about unanswered prayer. For the past 14 years, I have prayed for something that remains unanswered and it’s a real bummer. Month after month, it gets more and more difficult to stay positive about getting the answer I hoped to get. Not only have I been thinking about unanswered prayer but more especially how I have reacted over the years to those answered prayers.

As I get older, I have discovered that people disappoint and its easier to not trust people than to be disappointed. Unfortunately, I have also taken the same posture with God when it comes to certain areas of my life. This week I caught myself saying out loud about something I have been praying for: “well, if it happens, it happens. If not then I have nothing to lose!” This was not an affirmation of God’s sovereignty over my life. It was more of an “I don’t want to get too excited only to be disappointed….again” speech. Today I want to explore my posture when it seems like God has not and maybe will not show up. Particularly I want to examine my attitudes and self-talk.

Zacharias and Elizabeth are a perfect demonstration of attitude.

In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old. Luke 1:5-7 NIV

In modern-day parlance, we can say Zacharias and Elizabeth were PKs just like me! I am sure they had prayed for years for a child and God did not show up! And now their infertility had been compounded by the fact that they were too old and the plumbing had probably stopped working. But see their attitude: Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. They never stopped being godly, obeying God to the letter, or serving God with the same gusto as they did probably the first time they prayed for kids. Were they ever disappointed? Very likely! Did they ever doubt that God will come through? Maybe (we know that Zacharias ended up unable to speak for 9 months because he doubted the angel’s good tidings that he will have a son in his old age)! The lesson here is that their situation never changed how they felt about God: who He was and what He was capable of. That is why their attitude towards God never changed. Has unanswered prayer changed how you feel about what God is capable of doing in your life? Has your attitude towards God’s abilities shifted ever so slightly because you have had a very long disappointment or a series of disappointments in receiving answers to prayer?

My encouragement to you is to go back to God and get an attitude adjustment. God always shows up. He is never late! He is always on time. Sounds cliche…I know but think about it… God was preparing Zacharias and Elizabeth to be the parents of the one who was to baptize the Christ! the one who was to prepare the way for the revolution that Jesus was about to bring. John the Baptist was the bridge between the old and the new dispensations. This means he had to be born at a specific time… not a moment too early or a moment too late. What seemed like God not showing up was in hindsight a case of perfect timing!

In the meanwhile, what if Zacharias and Elizabeth had compromised on their love for God just a little? What if they had decided to be spiteful and stop serving? What if their attitude changed ever so slightly? I doubt the outcome of their story would have been the same!

I know years of disappointment have made me jaded and I don’t pray with the same level of expectation and faith anymore! I still pray for that one thing I have been hoping for for years but I  just pray out of habit not because I am expectant. I make statements like God knows I need it and when he’s ready he’ll do it!  And although that statement is fundamentally true it is said with major attitude! Only you know if you need an attitude adjustment. I know I desperately need one.

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. Psalm 139:1-3 NIV

Stay tuned for my reflections on self-talk.

Yours truly.

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Our Covenant Relationship

Referencing We are Covenant People

So let’s continue from where we left off, shall we? To recap:

Abraham was the mediator of a covenant with God sealed with blood. The terms of reference of this covenant were that all that entered into it would love, obey, fear God, serve God, and keep the commandments. This covenant was meant to be an everlasting covenant between God and Abraham and his descendants, never to be broken by either party. But guess what? the children of Israel fell into a cycle of breaking the covenant, repenting and asking God to take them back only to break it all over again. Enter Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ became the mediator of a new and better covenant the new covenant which promised three things:

  • to be inclusive, not just for the descendants of Abraham but for all
  • to give access to an eternal inheritance
  • to set people free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant

Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. Heb 9:15 BSB

Just like the old covenant, the new covenant was ratified with the blood of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. And all who are willing to partake of this covenant enter into it by the circumcision of  the heart

For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter. That man’s praise is not from men but from God. Romans 8: 28-29 HCSB

And how does one circumcise the heart you ask? You are to have put off, concerning the former way of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to its desires of deceit (Ephesians 4:22 BLB) and you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips (Colossians 3:8)

But you know the best part of all of this. Jesus did not come to invalidate the old covenant ratified by God or nullify its associated promises. He came to offer this opportunity to all.

And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you. Galatians 3:29 NLT

This means that all the blessings of the old covenant are available to me a non-Jew through the new covenant. this also means all the stipulations of the old covenant are also enforceable: the covenant is a blood covenant that can never be broken and the parties involved are blood partners and everything one has is placed at the disposal of the other.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:3 ESV

Pentecostal Christians know how to claim the blessings under Abraham’s covenant. We sing … “Abraham’s blessings are mine!”…perhaps too often… and rightly so because everything God has is placed at our disposal. we have full access but is the flip side true? Can God count on our everything to be placed at His disposal? Abraham, of whom we sing placed everything at God’s disposal even to the point that when God said “give me your beloved son”, he was prepared to give up Isaac! Are you prepared to lay it all down?

Secondly, the terms of reference remain the same:

What does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in [obedience to] all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am giving you this day for your own good? Deuteronomy 10: 12-13 BSB

So I ask you: Do you love God? Do you fear God? Do you obey God in all things? Are you serving God with all your heart and with your soul? and Do you keep the statutes and commandments of the Lord? I know I fall short of these most days and if you are like me and you fall short too, then I pray this day that God will help us   to be intentional in our covenant relationship with Him, to keep our part of the covenant so we can fully experience and enjoy the blessings of Abraham.

Yours truly.

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We are Covenant People

This past Sunday, I had the privilege of listening to my Dad preach a sermon in church. It had been ages and for those of you who know Pastor Tee, I was not disappointed! His message was about our covenant relationship with God and this is a synopsis of the sermon and my interpretations of it.

All of God’s dealings with mankind have revolved around two major covenants: the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Both of these covenants were entered into by God with a person and were ratified by blood. Within these blood bound covenants were stipulations which both parties abided by. These included the fact that covenants sealed in blood should never be broken. The parties involved in the covenant become blood partners and everything one had was placed at the disposal of the other. And finally, there were terms of reference that had to be fulfilled. Enter Abraham:

The Old Covenant was established between Abraham and God and ratified on both sides by blood- Abraham through circumcision (Gen 17:10-14) and God through the blood of sacrificial animals (Gen 15:1-10). These were the terms of the covenant:

What does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in [obedience to] all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am giving you this day for your own good? Deuteronomy 10: 12-13 BSB

To shake hands on this covenant, animals were cut up in halves and put on either side with a path between them that the parties had to walk through. This signified that whoever broke the covenant was worthy of death just like those animals.

Those who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces. Jeremiah 34:18 NIV

So Abraham and God shook hands on their covenant (Gen 15: 1 -21). Abraham had everything he wanted by virtue of the covenant. In his old age, he even had a son! Everything that belonged to God was at Abraham’s disposal and everything that belonged to Abraham was at God’s disposal. For the covenant to remain unbroken, Abraham had to meet the terms of reference: Love, Obey, Fear God, Serve God, and Keep the commandments. The day Abraham took Isaac to Moriah to sacrifice him, he proved to God that in as much as God would not break the covenant neither would he!

Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” Gen 22:12, 16-17 NIV

The descendants of Abraham got to partake of the blessings of this covenant which they entered into by circumcision- circumcision of the foreskin and whenever they strayed away and broke the covenant (the Israelites broke the covenant a lot! Hosea 6:) they were brought back into covenant with circumcision of the heart.

When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors. The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

So what has this got to do with me? I am not a direct descendant of Abraham!… oh but it’s got everything to do with me […and Jesus Christ]!

Stay tuned for the second part of We are Covenant People. In the meanwhile be intentional in living out your faith.

Yours truly.

 

Posted on by intentional4christ

The worthless Christian

This week I was reading Matthew 5 and I decided to linger in a few verses I have read many times:

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. Matthew 5:13 NIV

Let’s take a minute to unpack this. The very essence of salt; what gives it its name and its very inherent properties is its saltiness. We can go on to talk about the functions of salt such as flavouring, preservation etc. But what I want to dwell on for a minute is on salt losing its essence as salt. If salt does not have salt then it is just worthless crystalline “stuff”. I am at a loss as to what to even call it because we all know salt as salt… saltiness and all!

As I pondered on that I thought about the many people who call themselves Christians today but have no essence of a Christ-like life. They are Christians without the Christ; they are just “-ians” and like salt without its saltiness,  that is just something worthless. Reflect on your life, are you living a life that is worthy of using the title Christian? Is Christ the essence of your life? Do you live a life that reflects the properties of a Christ-like, Christ-filled, Christ-centred life? Are you a  Christian or an “-ian” (No offence to the those who are legally called Ian 🙂 ) Think about that!

I am going to leave you with some food for thought and next time we will talk about this at length:

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way,  [I emphasize in the same way] let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5: 14-16 NIV

Be intentional about living out your life worthy of the calling to be a CHRISTIAN. Don’t be an -IAN!

Yours truly.