One of the key lessons I learned in 2021 was the value of relationships. Becoming a new parent will do that to you! I set more boundaries and opened my heart to more people than I ever dreamed of as we welcomed our son into the world. Two things that really stood out to me as my friendships and the lines around them shifted and changed was the value of being true to the covenant of friendship, and the sheer blessing of the invitation to do life together.
Often I think we tend to view the temporal and spiritual so differently in terms of relationship. We see an etherealness to our relationship with God that prevents us from understanding how to relate to Him with the healthy lessons we learn from the people in our lives—people He often brings along by His own power!
But God draws so many parallels between our relationships in this life and how we relate to Him (this, by the way, is one reason He calls us to such specific conduct and rules in our spousal, familial, and all other relationships), and scriptures like Psalm 50 are such proof of that! I love these four particular lines above because they are simple, straightforward, and so very, very profound in how we relate to God.
We all have vows to fulfill to the Most High. Friendship, marriage, family, business association, etc., these all can have a covenant connotation; in much the same way, entering into the Body of Christ, we are members of the New Covenant with Jesus Christ. We are part of God’s family, children and also ambassadors and witnesses of Him and His Son. With thanksgiving—not grudging hearts, but joyful ones for all He has done—we should be fulfilling those covenant vows, making disciples, spreading the Gospel, using our gifts to spread Truth around the world!
But going further…our covenant, like the covenant between God and His people, created this open invitation. We can call on Him in times of distress, and He will deliver us! In turn, we honor Him. This is the give-and-take of covenant relationship; like a marriage where husband serves wife and wife serves husband, or a friendship where each one sharpens and goads the other to better works and a godlier lifestyle, there’s interchange! We call out, God delivers, we honor Him. It’s a stunning cycle of relationship. When we are living in the covenant vows, it doesn’t stagnate; there is always more provision from God, more reason to give thanks. There are always more times of distress, and deliverance, and praise.
While our relationship with God is far holier and more crucial to our thriving and surviving than any human relationship, make no mistake—it is a relationship, and it’s never one-sided. God deeply desires to be in an active, vital, living, involved covenant with His children, and there is so much to learn, to gain, to experience in love and relationship with Him. Let’s not shy away from it or be overcome with thinking that there’s just too much mystery for us to draw close to Him.
We can start with thanksgiving. Start with fulfilling our covenant vows, and with reaching out to Him in times of distress. Let’s be active and involved in our relationship with God, not spectators to the most important/profound relationship in our lives. There’s so much learning, growing, and experiencing to do with Him! Let’s step forward in that relationship today!
