The Different Way...

THE DIFFERENT WAY…It’s hard for us to imagine how much has changed with Christ’s death on the cross. We would have needed to be present prior to Christ to grasp how large of an affect the new covenant had on human life. I think it’s important to revisit this, so we have an appropriate appreciation for how much more available God has made himself to us. This verse touches it…
“This is the new covenant I will make with my people…I will put my laws in their hearts…”. ~Hebrews 10:16
The old covenant placed the responsibility to build the bridge back to God on mans shoulders. By maintaining a righteous set of attitudes and actions would one have access to God. Some today are still trying to work out their spiritual lives that way. They feel responsible to get themselves cleaned up and build a bridge back to God. Thus their Christianity is a very wearisome task. They seriously need our prayers. But the new covenant that Jesus opened up removed all that. When Jesus died upon the cross, He became the bridge. No longer was access to God gained by man forging forward into righteousness, now it was Christ that was forging forward…into our lives. I think most Christians understand this, in theory. However, I fear many don’t understand how it plays out in actual daily experience. The old covenant was navigated from ‘the mind’ and ‘raw human will’. That was the only way we could put on righteousness and close the gap between us and God. But the new covenant is navigated from a completely different place in our person. The verse above reveals how the new covenant is enacted from a deeper part of the human soul. In the new covenant, Christ himself moves into our spirits, and starts writing His plans on the walls of our hearts. Then these Christ-inspired desires start flowing out of us. Christianity becomes an upsurge…rather than an obligation. That’s how the new covenant affects us. That’s the different way! ~Verlon