God's Covenant: Stay with it or Away with it?

Introduction:

We as individuals set up goals in our lives to strive for something that we like to do and want to achieve! Every time, when a year is almost coming to a close, we would make a promise(s) to ourselves for the new year to come (New Years’ Resolutions) what we want to succeed in. We would promise a lot to ourselves and say we can accomplish this specific goal and continue to gain in newer heights if we complete whatever target we have set up for; people would commonly say in their New Years’ Resolution to: exercising more, losing weight, neglecting smoking/drinking, being more organized, being a better person, etc.

And especially us Christians would make a pact not only to ourselves but making a covenant with God, to keep on growing spiritually and increasing in our faith and our relationship with the Lord like: praying earnestly (1 Thess. 3:10), helping more people that are in physical/spiritual need (Rom. 15:2,3), conducting more Bible studies/preaching His truth (Matt. 28:19,20; 1 Thess. 2:13), going to sound lectureships, worshipping God (Jn. 4:24), being rooted in the faith (Col. 2:7), reading/meditating more on God’s Word, etc.

The question that we all should ponder is... are we (including Christians) dedicated/motivated to accomplish the goals that we want to aspire for? Many individuals that have made a covenant to themselves have lost their boost of morale in the beginning of the year.

According to the New York Post, there was a poll sent out of 2,000 Americans that made New Year’s Resolutions, that it takes just 32 days for the average person to finally break their Resolution. However 68% of people report giving up their resolutions even sooner than that. A study from the UK has found that two-thirds of people abandon their New Year’s Resolutions within a month. Only 9% of people successfully keep their New Year’s resolutions.”

Furthermore, a CBS Poll states that, “42% of individuals in 2019-2021 made plans for their new year’s resolutions, however, 2022 alone took a dip to 29% and by the end of the year only 9-12% felt satisfied that they accomplished their goals.”

It is very sad to see how many people had their hearts on fire for something they wanted to attain, and then that flame they once had, turned into a feeble spark that dwindled away!

Likewise, with Christians just because we are sanctified (set apart) from the world (Rom. 12:2), we too can fall away from Grace, just how brother Paul preached to the church of Galatia, saying, “You who are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For though the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor circumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love” (Gal. 5:4-7).

When examining the word “Covenant” what does it mean? The word simply defines as: a promise, a deed, a contract, an agreement, a commitment. Moreover, when looking at the Old Testament, we read of multiple verses of God’s covenant to man:

After the flood subsided from the earth, God made a covenant with Noah, that, “I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth (Gen. 9:11), furthermore, God placed a bow in the sky for man, every living creature and for all future generations to come (v.12), that sign of the covenant is a representation that the Lord will never bestow waters to cover the whole earth again (v.15).

When we want to set up a goal that we want to succeed in, we MUST come to realize that we can’t make a huge promise to ourselves or even to the people we care about, IF we are not willing to fulfill our objective! Make sure that we are motivated to our goals from beginning to end; it’s always good to start small and work your way up to bigger promises. It is always good to start small with a small promise, and if a person succeeds, than keep on boosting up to greater heights!