Making a Covenant with Yourself
Job revealed one of the spiritual principles that allowed him to live righteously before the Lord.(Job 31:1) He said that he made a covenant with himself and with the parts of his body to stay away from sin and to do God's will. He learned God's will, and he determined what he would do with his eyes, his mouth, his hands, his feet, etc in any situation that might arise. Then, when he was confronted with a decision, he already knew what he would do.
I think about this in the context of my training in baseball. I played a lot of short stop, second base, and third base in my day. My coaches taught us to know what to do with the ball even before the pitch was thrown to the batter. If we did not assess the situation beforehand and make that decision, once the ball was hit, it was too late. There was no time to decide, and the pressure of the moment made the decision so much harder.
As believers, we need to do what Job did. We should read God's Word and listen to the Spirit. When we learn a command or a principle, we should decide how to apply it. Then, we make a covenant with ourselves to do whatever it takes to obey and to stay away from sin. Job's example here is that he did not look at a young woman. Why? He knew that could lead to lust, and that was not God's will. Therefore, he simply turned his eyes away. Simple enough solution, but it is hard to practice because of the flesh, unless we have made that covenant with our eyes. I am sure you can think of hundreds of these covenants that we need to make with ourselves, so that we live like Jesus. The Spirit will empower us to obey, but we have to decide what we will do.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Job 34-37.
I think about this in the context of my training in baseball. I played a lot of short stop, second base, and third base in my day. My coaches taught us to know what to do with the ball even before the pitch was thrown to the batter. If we did not assess the situation beforehand and make that decision, once the ball was hit, it was too late. There was no time to decide, and the pressure of the moment made the decision so much harder.
As believers, we need to do what Job did. We should read God's Word and listen to the Spirit. When we learn a command or a principle, we should decide how to apply it. Then, we make a covenant with ourselves to do whatever it takes to obey and to stay away from sin. Job's example here is that he did not look at a young woman. Why? He knew that could lead to lust, and that was not God's will. Therefore, he simply turned his eyes away. Simple enough solution, but it is hard to practice because of the flesh, unless we have made that covenant with our eyes. I am sure you can think of hundreds of these covenants that we need to make with ourselves, so that we live like Jesus. The Spirit will empower us to obey, but we have to decide what we will do.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Job 34-37.