December 17 – Dare to Take Your Place
Dear Marisa,
«But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared…Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs.»
(Titus 3:4,6-7)
A covenant of grace. That’s what you and I have with Almighty God. If you could truly grasp the significance of that, you’d never be the same again.
What exactly is a covenant of grace? It’s a relationship of favor that gives you access to someone else’s power.
An illustration of a covenant of grace is the covenant the old Sicilian «family» members have with the «godfather» of the «family.»
In that group, a weak person might come in and ask the Don for a favor. The Don would say, «I will grant this favor and I will ask a favor of you, and when that time comes, I will collect it.»
Once that was said, the weak person would become excited. Suddenly he knew he would no longer have this problem because anyone who tried to rough him up would now have to face the godfather, the one with all the power. Suddenly, that little guy’s attitude would change. He would leave the presence of the head of the family in the full assurance that he didn’t have a thing to worry about. He was no longer small and powerless in his own mind. He had gained favor (grace) with the powerful.
He’d walk out thinking, «Everything is handled. All I have to do now is whatever the Don asks me to do–and the Don knows I don’t have anything, so whatever he asks me to do, he’ll provide the wherewithal to do it.»
That’s grace. God’s willingness to enter into blood covenant with you and give you everything He has in exchange for everything you have.
He took your sin to give you His righteousness. He took your sickness to give you His health. He took your poverty in order to meet all your needs according to His riches in glory. Whenever He asks you to do something, He provides everything you need to carry it out.
The great Jehovah, God of heaven and earth, is your Father God. Can you understand that? If you’re under the blood of Jesus, you’ve been made a covenant child of the most powerful being in the universe.
Dare to take your place in the family!
