What Does It Mean to Live in Covenant?
Last week, our family had the joy of attending a beautiful wedding. As I watched the lovely bride and groom stand before their families and friends to recite their covenant vows with one another, I found myself thinking about the beautiful picture Scripture gives us of our covenant with God. There was something especially meaningful about witnessing a wedding in Jerusalem. I was overwhelmed with the fact that so much Scripture has unfolded here, and that Marriage is a symbolic thread that is woven throughout the story of the Bible repeatedly. God repeatedly uses the language of marriage to describe His relationship with His people Israel in the Old Testament, and the Church in the which encompasses both Jew and Gentile in the NT. That imagery is intentional. In the Bible, a covenant isn’t simply a promise made in a moment. It is the establishment of a forever relationship—a commitment, and a vow between two parties that agree to uphold their promises one another. And for marriage, it’s meant to be a life lived together forever. That made me ask myself: What does life in covenant with God look like in our everyday lives? What does it look like when we wake up on an ordinary Tuesday morning? What does it look like when life is difficult, when we are tired, when we don’t understand what God is doing, or when there is nothing particularly spiritual or extraordinary happening?
Allegiance Regardless of Circumstance
Covenant life is a life of sworn allegiance. Sworn before witnesses, which according to Scripture is important, because in the presence of at least two witnesses a matter is officially established (Deut 19:15). I think many of us believe that covenant life with God looks a lot like perfect faithfulness. And while striving to be faithful to God, and producing fruit for Him is important, we must realize that ultimately… God is the one and only faithful one. We all fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23) and none of us are without sin (1 John 1:8, 10). Yet Jesus tells us that in Him, we can strive for perfection by giving our absolute best to love those around us, and to love even our enemies (Matt 5:43-48). So, despite all our shortcomings, what Covenant life looks like is choosing to love every day. Choosing to remain committed no matter what. In our relationship with God, we make the choice every day to serve Him and to love Him. Not just on the days when we feel close to Him, but in the ordinary moments. In our failures. In our weaknesses and doubts. We choose Him through it all. We listen to Him when He speaks, and we obey His word and what it says. And despite our own desires or our personal fears, if we want to be in full allegiance to Him then, we must commit to trusting… even when we don’t understand. We must choose to obey His Word even if our circumstance tempts us to feel like it is difficult. We must commit to making our relationship with Him more than something we only acknowledge at church. We need to remember that we don’t simply just strive to bear the image of belief in God… but the truth is that despite all our shortcomings of bearing God’s image, we will always belong to Him because He is faithful to finish the good work that He started in us (Phil 1:6). We must walk and exemplify this truth to the world.
For two Partners Covenant Life is more than a Feeling of love and romance. When it comes to a covenant between a bride and a groom, it’s like the Covenant with God in the sense that it’s meant to be forever. Two people aren’t simply saying, “I love you.” They are saying, “I am committing my life to you.” We are one in everything. Last Friday, Anthony and I celebrated 14 years of making that commitment to one another! Fourteen years have taught me that commitment cannot be sustained by feelings alone. Feelings are wonderful. Love is wonderful. There are moments in marriage that are full of joy and closeness and gratitude. But there are also ordinary days. There are difficult conversations, disappointments, seasons of exhaustion, and moments when you must choose patience when you don’t feel patient, forgiveness when you would rather hold onto the hurt, and sacrifice when it would be easier to choose yourself. Love becomes visible in those moments. It is lived through choices, sacrifice, forgiveness, patience, humility, and simply showing up—not because every day feels the same, but because the commitment before God remains. Perhaps that is part of what God wants us to understand when He uses marriage to describe His relationship with His people. He isn’t simply inviting us to know about Him. He calls us to know Him. To walk with Him. To trust Him. To obey Him. To belong to Him.
What Fourteen Years Have Taught Me
When I think about the last fourteen years with Anthony, I don’t just think about the wedding day or the years filled with big milestones. I think about all the ordinary days in between. We’ve changed. We’ve grown. We’ve walked through seasons we never could have imagined when we stood before our family and friends and said, “I do.” We’ve celebrated, we’ve struggled, we’ve had to extend grace to one another, and we’ve learned that building a life together requires far more than simply loving each other when things are easy. There have been days when one of us had to carry more because the other was tired. Days when we didn’t have the answers. Days when we had to choose patience, forgiveness, or understanding. And there have been countless ordinary days that probably wouldn’t seem significant to anyone else but have become part of the story of our life together. Looking back, I think those are the days that have taught me the most about what it means to remain. Not because we have done marriage perfectly because we haven’t but because we’ve continued to choose one another. And maybe that is why the picture of marriage and covenant has been on my mind so much. After fourteen years, I understand a little more that love isn’t proven only in the big moments. It is revealed over time, in the thousands of little choices to remain faithful, to forgive, to listen, to serve, to grow, and to keep walking forward together. When a husband and wife enter a marriage, they are no longer living as two completely independent people. Their lives become intertwined. Their decisions affect one another. Their joys are shared. Their burdens are shared. Their future is shared. There is a beautiful picture of this in the words spoken at a wedding: “I choose you.”
And in our relationship with God, there is also a daily choosing… not because God is uncertain about His commitment to us, but because we are continually being invited to orient our lives toward Him. We get the choice each day to say: Your ways will be my ways. Your Word will guide me. Even when I don’t understand, I will trust You. Even when obedience costs me something, you are worth it. When our relationship with God moves from something we profess to something we live, it begins to shape everything. It changes the way we make decisions. The way we treat people. The way we respond when we are hurt. What we pursue, what we surrender, and what we do when no one is watching. Because belonging isn’t just something we say. It changes how we live–and no matter how many mistakes we make, the faithfulness of God is perfect.
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me (2 Cor 12:9).
Thus, as beautiful as marriage can be, there is an important difference between our marriages and our covenant relationship with God. Neither us nor our spouses are perfect. We are all imperfect. We will fail one another. But God is faithful and He never fails. Scripture repeatedly points us back to the faithfulness of the One who makes covenant.
“Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love…”
Deuteronomy 7:9
That is where this becomes even more beautiful to me. God doesn’t use marriage as a picture because marriage is always perfect. He uses it because marriage gives us a language for commitment, belonging, intimacy, faithfulness, and a relationship meant to endure. And throughout Scripture, even when God’s people wander, God continues to reveal Himself as the One who remembers and keeps His promises. Psalm 105:8 says: “He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations.” He remembers. He keeps. He remains faithful. His faithfulness becomes the foundation from which we learn to be faithful. Because we are loved, we learn to love. Because He is faithful, we learn faithfulness. Because He keeps His Word, we learn to trust His Word.
The Ordinary Days Matter
Maybe that’s what has been on my mind since that wedding. As I stated earlier, we tend to think of marriage in terms of big moments… the wedding day, the vows, the celebration, the beautiful photographs. And those moments matter. But a marriage isn’t lived on the wedding day. It is lived the day after. And the day after that. And the thousands of ordinary days that follow. It is lived in the kitchen. In conversations. In parenting. In sickness. In celebration. In forgiveness. In making dinner. In choosing kindness when you’re tired. In showing up when life isn’t exciting. In loving someone when they aren’t at their best. And perhaps our relationship with God is much the same. Our faith isn’t only lived in the extraordinary moments… the worship service, the answered prayer, or the moment when we feel His presence so close. It is also lived in the ordinary. When we wake up. When we work. When we parent. When we make decisions. When we’re disappointed. When we don’t understand. When nobody sees. Those ordinary days matter to God. Every one of them is another opportunity to remember: I belong to Him. This is a picture that Points beyond us, and there is something else I love about the way Scripture uses marriage imagery. Our marriages, imperfect as they are, can point us toward something greater. Paul writes about the mystery of marriage and says: “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Eph 5:32) The earthly picture points beyond itself. Marriage gives us a small glimpse of something much greater—the relationship between the Messiah and His people, and the faithfulness of the One who has called us His own. So as Anthony and I celebrated 14 years of marriage last week, I find myself thinking about what these fourteen years have taught me. Love is not only something we feel. It is something we choose. Faithfulness is not only something we admire. It is something we practice. Commitment is not only something we speak on a wedding day. It is something we live out in the ordinary days that follow. And perhaps most importantly, our marriages can point us toward the One whose faithfulness is greater than ours.
He remembers.
He keeps.
He is faithful.
Every ordinary day gives us another opportunity to live like we belong to Him.
“Where faith and hope meet”
Nothing but Encouragement
No Angela Avalos
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