Covenant Love vs Covenant Lust…

Isaiah 49:16-17 “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me. “Your builders hurry; Your destroyers and devastators Will depart from you. 

A covenant is an agreement between two or more persons. It begins and ends in a relationship/commitment to join resources and mindset together toward a common activity and/or goal. In God’s case, His covenant to love His creation is an agreement written and made within Himself.

Most humans need a reciprocal action in order to count a covenant worthy of their participation, but God counts worthiness according to Himself. He also counts the covenant’s importance by His own intention toward its fulfillment.

We, on the other hand, make and destroy covenants at the whimsy of the moment.

Whereas the term covenant should convey an impossible connection to break, we consider it our challenge to find every way possible to break the connection and therefore our obligation to honor it.

More than a promise, which insinuates a future obligation, a covenant has an intrinsic demand for all hands to do whatever is necessary at any and every moment to protect, serve, and honor the agreement and it’s intentions stated in its origin.

I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands… What’s your first thought when you read that? What would your reaction be if you were to consider inscribing someone on your palms?

I’ll admit it! My first thought is of the potential end to the relationship /covenant. What if…

My second thoughts is, PROTECT THE HEART! “Why make it so permanent? We’ll just TRY IT – We’ll just enjoy it WHILE IT LASTS – Let’s not MAKE IT OFFICIAL… yet!”

Whatever the agreement is, we humans will attempt to cover every base so that WE will end up OK IN THE END!

There is always a winner… and there is always a looser… It’s ALWAYS about ME and RARELY about YOU! This is mankind’s “natural” mantra.

Our enemy convinced us we had potential to be THE winner… “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5)

Why do we listen to someone who only wants our destruction? Why do we turn our backs on someone who only wants the very best for us? Why do we covenant with the enemy for a taste of “the good life” (lust), when God is the Author and Sustainer of the perfect (love)?

I believe it all boils down to the difference between LOVE and LUST!

Covenant Love is directed outward. Covenant Lust is directed inward.

Covenant Love seeks blessing with all that is good for others. Covenant Lust seeks more profit than loss for self.

Covenant Love is always moving forward in experience and expertise of the imparting joy. Covenant Lust is always about filling the insatiable need of the individual, for honor and glory in every pursuit.

Covenant Love pursues peace and casts out the fear of abandonment.

Covenant Lust depends on fear to keep its rules of law and order (I am the law and it is MY order!).

Covenant Love is God… Covenant Lust is Satan.

Without regard to what we can, should, or will do for Him, God loves us. He signs the covenant He made with Himself… they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

He signs His covenant with His own hands… I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands

He makes us the prime beneficiary of His covenant… Your walls are continually before Me

He gives the full and total measure of covenant assets through our adoption as His sons/daughters, and retains all the guardianship and protection for His Kingdom and our inheritance.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

On the other hand, Satan, regardless of what we can, should, or will do for him, hates us. His covenant is totally and irrevocably based upon his lust to defeat God and take over the power of the universe.

Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 

Satan hates us with a lust to DEVOUR us.

1 Peter 5:8 the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour

He hates God… we are God’s creation… he does not want to simply take us away from God and replace Him as our god. HE DOESN’T WANT US AT ALL! When we walk in Satan’s covenant – the covenant of lust – we are walking into his trap which is located in the killing fields of hell.

Under the covenant of God’s love, we are saved, redeemed, anointed, sealed, protected, adopted, sanctified… we are the FAMILY BUSINESS

Ephesians 3: 14-19 I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that he would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breath and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

The Fullness of God… God’s Covenant!

We don’t work to receive it. We don’t earn it. We don’t manipulate God to  give it.

We just believe…

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. 

If FAITH is our signature of acceptance to live under the covenant agreement… then LOVE is the banner declaring Who’s covenant rules.

Normally we “save” covenant love for those we really really like/love (spouse, children, siblings?)… let’s stop “saving” and start “spending” the love we get from God on ALL of our neighbors and truly be Covenant Lovers rather than covenant lusters.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails; 

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible