Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":
Was it the Lord’s intention that His people should embrace the Old Covenant?
Paul says that the old covenant “genders to bondage” (Gal. 4:24). Question: does the Lord ever bring His trusting people into bondage to evil?
The answer of course is “No!” The Old Covenant was the invention of the people at Mt. Sinai: when they declared, “all that the Lord hath spoken, we will do” (Ex. 19:8). That promise of the people was vain for in only a few days they were bowing down to worship a golden calf (32:2-8).
The Old Covenant has always been the promise of the people; the New Covenant has always been the promise of God.
We have a really beautiful hymn that we often sing in worship services, that is thoroughly Old Covenant in its meaning. Written by a Church of England pastor celebrating his teenage daughters being confirmed in the church, it breathes the Old Covenant idea:
“O Jesus, I have promised, to serve Thee to the end; be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend ...”
In total innocence, he led his teenage daughters to make a vain promise to the Lord; some may say, that’s good—maybe their making the promise helped them to remember to keep it. The hymn goes on, “I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I hear ... ”
But human strength is helpless in the face of worldly temptation. The clergyman meant well; but persuading his daughters to make vain promises to God is not good enough.
Fortunately, we can “convert” this Old Covenant hymn into a beautiful and powerful New Covenant hymn by changing only one word throughout: “O Jesus, I have chosen ... ” “The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise ... ” says a wise writer in the book Steps to Christ, p. 47.
Oh, how the Holy Spirit will bless as you lead your children into the New Covenant!
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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