09 February 2023
Let's review something: The Code is not the Covenant. The Code is a manifestation of the Covenant. The Covenant is the personal relationship you have with the Lord. That relationship has boundaries.
That's the way it has always been throughout the Bible. Every covenant was some kind of relationship whereby certain people could submit to the Lord as His possession. The Covenant of Christ is a relationship with the Father through His Son. You and I can easily understand that the vast majority of those who belong to Christ do not observe the boundaries Christ set down in His teaching.
Most simply aren't aware; the folks who should have taught them didn't. But we have a bigger problem, because when we mention this stuff to them, they tend to ignore it, argue about it, etc. There's not much we can do. Still, we stand on Covenant and convictions. That's our testimony of the Covenant.
Those of us who now embrace the Covenant didn't start out that way. We started under bad teaching or no teaching. We ended up doing some things in those days that we may now regret. Some of those things cannot be undone. They remain a burden that slows us down as we seek to follow the Lord on the path back to Eden. That's not a matter of the Father's displeasure with us. Rather, we are defiled and only when we die will it be cleansed. But it doesn't destroy our peace with Him.
Thus, when you bring into your Covenant life a bunch of liabilities, you simply accept the things that God doesn't heal for whatever reason. One of the biggest liabilities people carry around are bad marriages, and for some, one or more marriages that broke before the one you now have. The New Testament is pretty clear: In whatever condition you enter the Covenant, be at peace with it (1 Corinthians 7, especially v.20). Granted it's not perfect, but it doesn't keep the Lord from using You and shining His glory in your life.
A major element in our testimony is that grace and glory shine brightly despite the things in our fleshly existence that don't work right. It's not what we can accomplish in this life, but that we seek His glory regardless of conditions and outcomes. Do you love the Lord? Do you revere Him as your feudal Master? Then it's all good. Stay the course. Sure, pray for relief, but don't be surprised if He never grants those requests. He knows the best way to get you and His glory together.
Don't sweat the things you cannot change, especially those things that are part of your fleshly existence.
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