Am I Really Desired By God?Sample

With the new covenant centered around Jesus, we work from God’s love; we don’t have to work for it.

The new covenant is based on God’s love, a love that is powerful, passionate, unchanging, unending, and unconditional. The moment any person, religious leader, or system begins to put restrictions on God’s love, he or she is heading down the wrong path. Because there’s a new path, created by the life and work of Jesus.

There is a lot of power in how the genealogy of Jesus traces back to David and Abraham. He’s the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham and David—which is part of the reason why we have a grant-covenant relationship with God. The program changed with the arrival of Jesus, and the old ways of thinking about God and the system of laws would never be the same. Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection removed the penalty and punishment of not living up to the law. When we’re no longer living under the burden and conviction of the law, we can move on from the Mosaic covenant (the old covenant), and live and move and breathe in the new-covenant promise of a firsthand, personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

In this new covenant, we’re back to a grant relationship with God, where He does the work of forging a relationship with us because He wants our love. The new covenant under Jesus Christ is a whole new kind of law—the law of love. And that relationship is a face-to-face, intimate, soul-deep relationship. Jesus put on a human body with all its wrinkles and flaws and came down to live with His people in close community. What a contrast from God appearing in a cloud or fire, or staying up on a mountain and handing down laws.

Jesus’ life changed the game once and for all as He lived and worked and socialized with His people. He loved His friends old and new and responded to everyone He met, rich or poor, slave or free, sinner or outcast, with the love of the Father. Jesus was God on display, living out the love of His Father for all the world to see. Not everyone saw Him and accepted His love, but some did. Likewise, today not everyone sees Him and accepts His love either, but some do.