TUESDAY

Hebrews 8:1-13

Are you attracted to new things? New offers? New models? What is it about the offer of something new that draws us in? Interestingly enough, today’s passage is a description of something new that Jesus offers! It is not that God has changed or is offering something new in terms of the way God has always been committed to us, but rather it is a new way of thinking about things that would replace the limited way of thinking they had become accustomed to. What Jesus offers is a new way of framing or understanding their relationship with God—one that is based on what they now could understand much better because Jesus had made everything so much clearer through his life and ministry, his death, and his resurrection. He declared a “new” covenant. Not one that we might hope to somehow qualify for, but one that is based on the gift of grace that qualifies us, and then transforms us into the kind of people who live out what it means to know a God like that! Jesus did not make a new “contract” with us. Contracts are generally drawn up to protect the parties from each other. Rather, Jesus gave us a “new covenant.” Covenants are based on commitments we make to each other, because we already know where we stand with each other. This new covenant that Jesus offers is rooted in God’s amazing love and commitment to us—“better promises” to which we live in response. As you reflect on this amazing new thing that Jesus invites us to embrace, consider the following:

• Would you rather enter into a contract with someone or a covenant with someone? Why is that?

• When you think about your relationship with God, do you tend to experience it more in terms of a contract or a mutually shared covenant? (This is not a question about what the right answer is, but how it actually feels for you.)

• Why do you think you answered the way you did in the previous question? If you answered contract, what would it take to move you more toward an experience of covenant? If you answered covenant, what does it take to support that kind of relationship so that it doesn’t revert into a contract?

• We’ve been thinking this week about integrity, honesty, and truth. How is the idea of embracing the new covenant impacted by those things?

• As you reflect on today’s passage and your own walk with God, what surfaces for you?

Take a few moments to share with God what is on your heart as you reflect on the invitation God invites us to embrace—not a contract, but a covenant that results in changed hearts and lives.