The Price of Love
When we enter into a covenant with the Lord, sometimes we don't realize how serious it is until that covenant starts becoming effective. It's the same with marriage. the first few weeks, or at best the few months are beautiful and lovely but then you have to face the responsibilities, the expectations, the challenges, the clashes, and the list goes on.
A covenant is like a contract, but with a few differences. It binds you for life and it binds you with all you have and all you are. A covenant, once put in effect, will bring tremendous changes into your life.
You will hear God loud and clear. He will not let you be. He will start "bothering" you so much that you will start feeling annoyed. The truth is that a covenant requires one to live for the other. While we sometimes mistakenly believe that we would serve God in our own ways, God doesn't make mistakes and He goes all the way.
God takes things seriously. Unlike us, He means what he says. He made that very clear on the Cross. He is ready to live for you and He is expecting you to do the same. So we better expect a major and drastic change in our lives.
When we stick to the way we are used to living, thinking, acting and behaving, we will find ourselves struggling and wrestling with the very same God we love and we worship. A change in the way we think and we view our lives is needed, very badly.
"Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." (Rom 12:2)
It's the same with newlywed couples. They love each other. They want to please each other. But after a while, they realize that the person that pisses them off the most is their spouse.
Love comes with a price. It is called death.
That's why Jacob had to die for Israel to be born. That's why Jesus had to die for the Church to be born.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship." (Rom 12:1)
A renewed mind and a "living sacrifice" view the world and themselves differently than the struggling Jacob, trying to become number one with all his might and all his tricks. A living sacrifice does not have hidden agendas and is not competing with anyone. God cannot be fooled. We should not be fooling ourselves.
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you." (Rom 12:3)
Many of us suffer from the same problem. Our fleshly minds encourage us to fight for our rights. Our covenant with God requires us to lay dead and enjoy the riches of our Father.
Forgive us Lord for the way we act. Heal us Lord from the wounds of our past and let us be presented before you as real sons and daughters, worthy of a Father like You. We repent of our ways and turn to You, because we know that Your covenant with those who honor You lasts for many generations. We humble ourselves before Your grace. We repent of our stubbornness. We surrender all to You. We choose to believe. We accept to change and take different initiatives; initiatives that honor You and which are led by You. We love You.
