A Reason for covenant

John 17:1-3 New International Version (NIV) 1After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

I have been in church and in a Christian home all my life and I feel very fortunate to have received this heritage. My father often visited other churches and read the books authored by men who did not belong to the same denomination he did. He said to me once that he did not want to be locked in to a limited revelation. But he pondered the Scriptures and I often sat at his feet as he was "lost" in meditation of some Word he read. I learned that just learning a Scripture was not enough, you had to "eat" it and let it become a part of you. At some point in my youth, this scripture above became real to me. I realized that it was not what I was taught and believed that was most important for me. I yearned to know God. I began to pray that I would know His ways and not just His acts. Jesus said He is the Way and I saw that He came to reveal the Father and so by following Jesus, I could come to know the ways of the Father.

Ponder the love that drove the creation of all we know. I know we cannot fathom the depth and height, the eternity of such love, but consider that His desire for you in His image was the driving force to create all this vast creation to give you a place to be. Then consider the love that gave us the Way to become. Then consider the eternity yet to be in which you will exist in His image. How can we fathom such love?

We know from nature that God gives attention to mathematical precision. Consider the vast universes that move so completely in that precision that we can tell time and predict the weather and know exactly what day of the week your birthday will be 20 years from now. We also see His attention to detail and that goes beyond the intricacy of the human body to the ways of animal life, from an elephant's tribal instincts to the working of an ant's colony. How can we see such marvelous things that we never have the control over and not understand the words of Jesus when He told us not to worry but trust in the Father's care?

The wisdom that gave us all we see (and do not see!) is the same wisdom that gave us the covenants that assure us of becoming in His image. We see the patience of God in the steady progress but slow unfolding of His revelation of Himself to man. We think of the miracle of God making a covenant with Abraham and how much was revealed to Abraham. He saw the city God was creating, Jacob saw the access to God's realm that God was providing, and yet, to Moses God revealed a Name that was not given to Abraham. Much is given in revelation knowledge to a generation so they can walk in the ever unfolding understanding of God's ways, but there is always more another generation will receive. One thing I have learned is not to be mired in another's cement. Let the Spirit be your teacher and build on what has been revealed but don't limit God by the past. He has a goal, a destiny for you that is not limited by this realm. Our human mind cannot fathom what He has designed for us. Paul said he pressed on to the goal that was set for him. When Jesus left to go back to the Father, He said the Father would send the Holy Spirit to be our teacher, counselor and guide and would lead us into all Truth. Jesus is the Truth. The Holy Spirit will reveal facets of Jesus not visible to the human eye. The disciples did not know Him until the Holy Spirit began to reveal Him to them and they walked with Him. They witnessed that they no longer knew Him after the flesh, but by the Spirit.

We need to know ourselves and each other in the same way. Let the Spirit reveal to you His work in each one for we are His workmanship. Don't despair if you are not just like another or have the same abilities or knowledge. You are in His hand and He will form you to do the work He has for you. The ultimate goal is to be like Him and overcome your own flesh nature to reveal His likeness.