Saturday, February 26, 2011

An Unconditional Promise

Have you ever heard the expression,"Too good to be true"? I am sure that you have and I must tell you that I only know of one thing that is too good to be true BUT IS TRUE, and that is God's precious unconditional love for each one of us. And He longs for an intimate relationship with each one of us as well.

The children of Israel did not even realize how anxious God was to be with them and know them personally. It was not by chance that God led them to the "Mountain of God." At Mount Sinai God met His people with open arms and revealed Himself miraculously. During this study I have thought to myself 'how I long for a miraculous revealing of God in my own life', and it is more evident now than it has ever been before that SO DOES GOD! He wants to reveal Himself miraculously in each of our lives. To think about how God delivered the Israelites from the hands of their enemies, set them out on a journey to reach the wonderful place He promised for them, and then brought them into that place amazes me. It gets me so excited to think about what He has for each one of us! Take some time right now to thank God for what He has delivered you from. I know that in my life, I am so thankful to be delivered from a past in which I did not value myself or others, and I constantly felt as though I was not good enough. I am so thankful to have learned since then that God has already done everything for me through His Unconditional Promise, or the New Covenant.

As I was running through the gym the other day, a song came on my i-pod called "Come to Me." The lyrics are directly taken from Matthew 11:28-29. "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, you will find rest for your soul. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." This has been on my heart since this day a few weeks ago. This scripture reminds me that I do not have to do anything to receive the Unconditional Promise from our sweet God. Thanks to Jesus and everything He did for us on the cross, and what He continues to do for us each and every day.

In Hebrews 8:8-13 we are reminded of that New Covenant. God says that this new covenant is not the same as the old covenant that He made with the fathers of Israel, but the new covenant would be different. He tells us (vs. 10) that He will put His laws on our minds and write them on our hearts, "and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Praise God! That gives me geese bumps! He calls each one of us His own! But it gets even better! God goes on to say that He will be merciful to our unrighteousness and He will FORGET all of our sins! The next part is what turned my world upside down... (vs. 13) "In that He says, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is READY TO VANISH AWAY."

Do you know what this means?!?!?!?!? This means that anything from our past, anything that is keeping us from our own land of milk and honey, anything that is keeping us from living a life of abundance is READY TO VANISH AWAY! And that means that we need to let it! If there is anything, anything, anything that is keeping you from living life to the fullest in Christ Jesus our Lord make the choice today to live under the New Covenant and let it vanish away! God's Word tells us in Hebrews 9:13-15, "For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh (old covenant), how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works (our past, present and future troubles) to serve the living God (our land of milk and honey)? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called (all of us) may receive the eternal inheritance."

My sisters, I encourage you to bask in the glory of what God has promised us. This promise to us is unconditional, and it seems to be too good to be true, BUT IS SO TRUE! Praise His name in all that you do this day. He loves you so much and longs for a closeness with you. Let's give that to Him.

Nancy Gammon