Day3
1 Samuel 20
Week34
““Never!” exclaimed Jonathan. “I’d never do that! If I get the slightest hint that my father is fixated on killing you, I’ll tell you.” David asked, “And whom will you get to tell me if your father comes back with a harsh answer?” “Come outside,” said Jonathan. “Let’s go to the field.” When the two of them were out in the field, Jonathan said, “As God, the God of Israel, is my witness, by this time tomorrow I’ll get it out of my father how he feels about you. Then I’ll let you know what I learn. May God do his worst to me if I let you down! If my father still intends to kill you, I’ll tell you and get you out of here in one piece. And God be with you as he’s been with my father! If I make it through this alive, continue to be my covenant friend. And if I die, keep the covenant friendship with my family—forever. And when God finally rids the earth of David’s enemies, stay loyal to Jonathan!” Jonathan repeated his pledge of love and friendship for David. He loved David more than his own soul!”
1 Samuel 20:9-17 MSG
Cross references
Joshua 1 :5;
Ruth 1:17;
2 Samuel 21:7;
1 Samuel 25:22;
1 Samuel 18:1,3
Covenant Thinking
One of the big problems in our culture today is that we think only in terms of contracts and never covenants.
The Difference is found in the definitions.
CONTRACT- If one agreeing party does something in violation of the contract then it is considered broken. The whole contract becomes null and void. Basically the signers of a contract agree to hold up their ends as long as the other signatories hold up theirs too.
COVENANT- Both parties agree to hold up their ends regardless of whether the other party keeps their part of the agreement. A violation of a covenant by one party doesn’t matter as far as the other party’s responsibility to continue to do what they agreed to do.
Famous Secular Covenant
The Declaration Of Independence.
The document that set the course of our nation’s history.
Even though the idea of a covenant seems pretty radical today, there was a time when covenants were much more widely understood. Covenants weren’t always just some obscure spiritual or religious concept.
To the signers of The Declaration Of Independence it didn’t matter if any one of their confederates broke or switched sides. They were still committed to their course of action regardless, even if it cost them their lives.
And most of the signers were made to pay dearly for their stand by the British.
Lost Understanding
Today in our culture, however, we have lost the understanding of covenants. We only think in terms of contracts.
In our minds all of our agreements are contingent on both parties holding up their ends.
Thus the need for lawyers to help us find the loopholes or escape others unfaithful acts.
Either way, our lost understanding of covenants has significant repercussions in our society.
Misunderstanding God
Perhaps the biggest challenge that comes out of “contract thinking” is that we misunderstand the differance between a covenant and thus our relationship with God is limited.
We naturally filter everything we understand about God in terms of a contract.
We assume that if we don’t hold up our end then, contractually, God won’t hold up his.
As a result we find it impossible to approach a Holy God because we know we can never hold up our end of the bargain. The standard is perfection and we know we’re not perfect.
Religion would have us believe that sin is our big problem, when the truth is sin is not the issue any longer.
In truth we relate to God in the framework of a covenant. God has already committed to treat us in light of Jesus’ perfection even when, especially when, we don’t measure up as long as we choose to BELIEVE it.
Without “covenant thinking” we lose sight of God’s covenant with us and framing our relationship with God in terms of a contract completely warps our understanding of who God is and how he thinks of us. And it completely ties us down so that we never come close to meeting our full potential.
Action Step
Do you operate from “contract thinking” or “covenant thinking”? Ask yourself?
The covenant between Jonathan and David is a wonderful picture of our covenant with God.
Jonathan laid it all down willingly for his friend David.
Jesus willingly did the same for us.
This new and better covenant is paid for in His Blood and sealed by Holy Spirit.
Enter in by simply BELIEVING it!
That’s covenant thinking.
visit newcreeations.org for more like this.
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