The Character of Covenant

By Jason Arant

All three of our children know that every Tuesday evening at the local ice cream shop is “dollar scoop night”. It naturally follows that energetic lobbying to join in the fun of “scoop night” often begins on the evening before.

Our children’s mission is to evoke a promise guaranteeing a Tuesday night ice cream run will take place with unquestioning certainty. More often than not I resist their pleas for an outright promise in order to opt for a more mutually beneficial arrangement. When parties enter into an agreement based on upon mutually held set of obligations they have entered into “covenant.”

An Ice Cream covenant, in the Arant household, is a parental commitment to arrange and facilitate the necessary transportation and finances for the Arant children to enjoy an ice-cold serving of sugary bliss.

Conversely there are also expectations and obligations that our children are obliged to meet. Beds must be made, rooms must be cleaned, homework must be done, and vegetables must be eaten before the key is ever placed in the ignition of the family Jetta.

While a promise often serves simply as a reward a covenant can serve as a powerful tool for teaching and formation. The reliability that a father demonstrates in keeping his end of an agreement can make his word as good as gold as far as his children are concerned.

Which is more compelling and substantive however: A promise or a covenant?

Before answering consider the history of the Native Americans who once flourished along the banks of the Columbia River in Oregon in the last two hundred years.

After entering into a covenant with the U. S. Government in 1855 the Indians of the Columbia River valley were relocated to the Grand Ronde reservation. Their former lands were subsequently divvyed out to homesteaders.  Over time the Grande Ronde reservation was reduced in size until its eventual dissolution in 1954. At that point in time the tribal people were left with nothing at all.

The reality is that both promises and covenants are often made but are only ever as substantive and compelling as the character of the individuals who enter into them.

The new covenant that Christ has made with us is rooted in the gracious and selfless love of God for his creation. Its reliability is demonstrated by the blood Jesus spilled to establish it. As followers of Christ the promises and covenants we enter into must reflect this same selfless spirit and gracious character.

As we keep our commitments great and small our lives and faith become all the more substantive and compelling. Displaying something more in the way of Christ-like character is what makes a Christian covenant something more than the promises and treaties of this world. For the Christ follower it is the character of Christ that becomes the character of our commitments.

Jason Arant writes from Phoenix, Arizona arantj@mac.com