Covenant...

I just finished Kay Arthur's study on Covenant this week.  I've done a few Precept studies by Kay Arthur and have always loved them- they've all challenged me spiritually and academically- but there's something different about this study.... The leader of the study asked what everyone has gotten out of this study, something I'd been pondering for a little bit, and though it took me a while to really be able to communicate this journey (which isn't over, by the by), here's where I've been, and here's where I am... 

With this study I've gone from one side of the spectrum to the other.  I entered the study with great anticipation, certain of my salvation, looking forward to a deepening of my knowledge of and relationship with my Lord and Savior.... then was perplexed to question my salvation- because of the depth of my sin and the ongoing nature of it.  I've questioned God's grace upon a covenant broken, for the times I've made wrong choices (sinned) when I've known I shouldn't, wondering if God's judgment should/would be upon me.  Then, by God's amazing grace and healing power, because of His enduring love for me, being reassured that NO sin-  my sin included- is not beyond the redemptive, cleansing blood of Christ.  He's shown me that  I can No Longer live in such a way as to cheapen the work Christ did on the cross- the covenant He cut with Me- and You- No Longer cheapen the grace God has poured out upon Me - and You- to take away my sin- and yours- for all time: past, present, and future. 

"The truth of covenant is in accepting that although we are not all we ought to be, we are in process."  (2Corinthians 3:16)*

Through it all, the Lord has shown me that I've left my First Love and had begun at some point to live under the Law vs. living under the new covenant of Grace...  I'm so very thankful for God's grace and desire to draw me unto Himself continually, to not let me live under the condemnation of the Law, but to bring me to living in Freedom...  a Freedom that can only come from Him!

"Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever, Amen." ~Hebrews 12:18-13:21

*Covenant, God's Enduring Promises by Kay Arthur.  pg 187 pp4