CovenanTalk

In 1995, my wife’s parents passed away.  It was an emotionally difficult time for my wife and our family.  We loved them deeply and they had suffered considerably.  Though we were glad they were no longer in pain, to say we missed them is an understatement.  I dearly love them both.

Deciding what to do with their things however was difficult, because there was no clear will.  Decisions were made by remembering conversations, good will, and trying to guess.  Things written on a piece of paper would help.  But it’s hard to imagine a person’s life neatly tucked away in paragraphs with legal jargon.  To say, “Sally gets this, Bill gets this,” and so on, is not very personalized.  While it meets the law’s requirements, it falls short of the loving touch and smile that you so badly miss.

To be sure, the Bible is a legal document.  However, it is more than words explaining our spiritual rights…it is Jesus!

The Bible is powerful because it is the reference book for the Holy Spirit’s conversation with us.  It tells us what Jesus is thinking and saying to us in our day-to-day life, providing direction and power to face the challenges before us.

As a child, I used to pretend that I was a pirate who had found a hidden treasure.  I would make a patch for my eye and wield a stick for a sword.  Then, before an audience of my friends, I would say the magic words that unlocked the box holding the treasure.  I made up rhyming words and phrases to make my friends laugh.  I felt satisfied knowing I had opened up their laughter and secured the treasure of their acceptance.

I might say, “Bebop-o-rebop…open the box top!”  That worked so much better than, “Abracadabra!”  Anybody could say that.  By creating my own clever phrases, my friends would be tempted to chime in, making up their own silly words.  Our imaginations would eventually send us rolling around on the ground, cracking up at the goofy things we would say.

Jesus does that.  In John 8:38 he told those listening to him; “Whoever believes in me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”          What a ridiculous thought!  Whoever heard of such a thing?  However, these are the words God chose when he was searching for the right words to unlock this treasure of spiritual life.  Just as important are the words he chose not to use, lofty ideas and theological terms embedded in legal definitions.  Instead he said, “belly” and “rivers of living water.”  Such talk unhinges our religion and permits us to see God’s world as it is, not as men have so poorly painted it.  It also engages our imagination and authorizes us to look at the pictures God uses to describe what it is like to live with him. Looking at those pictures ignites our emotions and soon we feel, and that it is one more thing that anchors us to heaven.

God has given us a covenant of common words. They enable us to be what He intended…human; and they lead us to our destiny…children of God.