Covenant with God and One Another

““Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?” Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”” (Matthew 22:36–40, The Message)

When God delivered the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt during the first Passover, He first took them to the Mount Sinai to make a covenant with them as a people. The covenant consisted of two tablets containing the Ten Commandments. The first four are related to our relationship with God, and the remaining six commandments are related to how we relate to our neighbors, to one another.

“Then those whose lives honored God got together and talked it over. God saw what they were doing and listened in. A book was opened in God’s presence and minutes were taken of the meeting, with the names of the God-fearers written down, all the names of those who honored God’s name.” (Malachi 3:16, The Message)

When God is the center of our lives, and we relate correctly to one another, God pays attention. Jesus made it very simple for us, He did not abolish the Law, but said that in our relationship with God and one another we can cover all the Law and the Prophets.

“The same glory you gave me, I gave them, So they’ll be as unified and together as we are— I in them and you in me. Then they’ll be mature in this one-ness, And give the godless world evidence That you’ve sent me and loved them In the same way you’ve loved me.” (John 17:22–23, The Message)

I believe that in relationships we are to grow, to be equipped, healed, learn to use our gifts and receive each other gifts. There is no uniformity in true oneness. When we try to create uniformity, we are suppressing and oppressing others. In oneness we each must discover who we are and how we function in the community. In what God is looking to create there is diversity and variety of experiences and expressions, of gifts and talents, of personalities and backgrounds (1 Cor 12:4).

Share this:

Related