I do not have a covenant relationship with my grocery store. My devotion to the store is conditional. So long as my store gives me the best food at the lowest prices, I will shop there. But if I sense a lack of quality or higher prices, I will leave and find another store. Truth be told, this is a relationship of convenience, not conviction. Can you think of any relationship you have that is more about covenant than convenience?
After God credited righteousness to Abram, he renewed his promise to provide land as well as offspring. Abram asked for a sign so that he would know God’s promise was true. God offered Abram a covenant in which he cut animals in half. The word for covenant berith literally means to cut. God cut a covenant with Abram in which animals were sacrificed. As Abram waited for a sign he chased the birds of prey away from the carcasses.
How do we know God will keep his promises to us? God initiates a covenant with his people. All of the Old Testament covenants pointed forward to a new covenant. In this covenant, the priest himself became the sacrifice. The new covenant Christ cut involved the shedding of his own blood.
In a covenant relationship, both parties affirm they will be who they are supposed to be, no matter what. This is why we talk about the marriage covenant as a relationship of mutual submission and sacrifice. Marital love is not conditional based upon convenience. Out of deep conviction, we keep our covenants with our families as God has kept his covenant with us.
