Your Part

There is nothing more important in life, really, than to live in covenantal relationship with God.

That is the path to a blessed life—success (Biblically defined), significance (personal value, a deep and abiding sense that I have inherent worth, that my life matters and by my existence I have had an impact and made a difference) and satisfaction (joy, completeness, fulfillment). It is also the path to eternal life—forever living in the presence of God and fully living out his purposes in eternity without either the limitations of this fallen world or our flawed DNA.

Covenantal relationship—we were created to walk in covenant with our Creator, and when we do, there is nothing better. What is that covenant? That God contracts to be our God, walk with us, provide for us, even prosper us and fulfill his purposes on Planet Earth through us. That is God’s part of the covenant, which sounds pretty good to me. And pretty lopsided, too, when you consider our part.

We were created to walk in covenant with our Creator, and when we do, there is nothing better.

What is our part? Simply this: to listen, then obey. We are to hear God’s voice and order our steps accordingly. We are to align our hearts to love God fully, trust God unreservedly, honor God in both our attitudes as well as our actions, and leverage the totality of our lives to bring him glory.

This is what a covenantal response to God means: first to listen to what God says, and second, to do what God says. In essence, that is called faith—to believe God and to order our lives accordingly. As you read about the life of Abraham, this is the pattern you see: Abraham listened to God’s voice, believed God’s word, obeyed God’s plan, ordered his life accordingly and stepped out in trust daringly in anticipation that God would uphold his end of the covenant and fulfill all his promises.

Our part of living in covenantal relationship requires us to hear God’s voice and order our steps accordingly.

Of course, that doesn’t mean Abraham’s covenantal relationship with God was problem-free or unchallenged. And yours won’t be either. But what made Abraham’s life stand out as an extraordinary example of faith was that when he encountered these faith-rattling, covenant-crushing problems, over and over again his response was to listen, then obey.

Is that your pattern, too?  Are you ready to offer that kind of life-response to God today?  If you are—and if you will—and if, like Abraham, you will make that the pattern of your life, then you will live in a covenantal relationship with the Creator of the universe who will fulfill both his purposes and promises in your life.

And it doesn’t get any better than that.

When our problems lead us to pray and obey, we should embrace them as doing more good than harm.

Prayer… Father, I suspect that problems will challenge my covenantal journey with you today.  May those problems lead me to prayer, and then to action.  And because my problems lead me to pray and obey, I will embrace them as doing more good than harm.