A Word on the Walk Ahead

You have written the covenant.

A word about what comes next.

A covenant is not a contract. A contract is a transaction between parties of equal standing, each protecting his own interest. A covenant is something different. A covenant is a bond made before God, sustained by grace, kept by faithfulness on both sides.

The Lord has covenanted with you. He has bound Himself to you in Christ. He has promised never to leave you nor forsake you. He has set His love on you not because of anything you have done, but because of His own steadfast love. That covenant He keeps. You can stake your life on it.

What you have written today is your covenant to walk with Him in five specific ways, at Mayflower, in this season of your life.

You will fail at it.

You will miss the daily reading. You will pass the neighbor in silence when you meant to speak. You will skip the gathering. You will sing without engaging. You will hold the grudge against the brother you said you would forgive. You will fail.

When you do, do not throw away the covenant. Bring it back to the Lord. Confess. Receive His forgiveness. Begin again.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

The Christian life is not measured by perfect performance. It is measured by faithful repentance and renewed obedience. The five Core Values are not five performance targets. They are five paths to walk, and the Lord is the one who walks them with you.

Keep the covenant card in your Bible.

Look at it weekly. Revise it as you grow. Bring it before the Lord in your own prayers and in the gathered prayers of the church. Ask Him to make you the kind of person who walks the paths these Core Values mark, not by grit, but by the Spirit, in the body of Christ.

And remember the ground you stand on.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

You are His workmanship. The Core Values are the good works He has prepared for you. He will see you through them.