Under law, God requires. Under grace, He provides.

Driving down the interstate highway, especially (ahem) when I am going the speed limit, there are always plenty of folk who want to go faster. When we get our driver’s licenses we enter into a covenant, an agreement, to obey the laws of the road. The expectation of the law is clearly posted about the maximum speed limit but the law does not bring us to keep our agreement. We easily break the covenant when it suits us.

 

And so it has always been, right? God entered into a covenant with His people. His laws, actually intended to make us aware of our utter dependence on Him, are continually broken. In fact, it seems the human heart is quite unable and unwilling to keep them.

 

And so God, in His mercy, gave us a way out, a new covenant. “Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.” (Hebrews 7:22). Knowing that we would not and could not faithfully keep His commands, He gave us a new covenant of grace to draw us closer to Him. “For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.” (Hebrews 8:7)  “By calling this covenant “new,” He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.” (Hebrews 8:13)

 

Many in the Catholic and Anglican traditions are accustomed to going to a priest as an intermediary between them and God. Others set up rules and lists of accomplishments and deeds as their intermediary to appease God. But who better to put ALL our trust in besides Jesus who lives forever, the exact representation of God Himself, to intercede for us in our trials and weaknesses? (V 23-24) Who else could meet our deepest needs other than the One who is “holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens” – the One who is perfect forever”? ( V26-28)

 

If you have ever told a lie, taken God’s name in vain, put other things and feelings before Him, dishonored your parents, envied others or their belongings, you know how futile it is to depend on your own ability to always keep the law. Good deeds have their place when they are an outpouring of a faithful and grateful heart. But by themselves, they accomplish nothing of lasting value; and they certainly, by themselves, do not bring us closer to God.

 

When you look inside your heart and consider your inner motivations, which covenant are you living under? Are you living under the old covenant which demands perfect compliance with the law and an endless list of good deeds to ‘make up’ for your transgressions? Or are you living freely and victoriously under the new covenant of grace?

 

Under law, God requires; under grace, God provides. Which do you prefer?

Choose the new covenant today and enjoy the full life Jesus desires for you.