Focus 40 Day 25

A Loving Covenant

Others became priests without any oath, but he [Jesus] became a priest with an oath when God said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’” Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant…Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. —Hebrews 7:20–22, 25

As a writer, I enjoy dreaming up characters, settings, and scenes. Then I put my characters on stage to act out the words I’ve written. Hopefully, I’ve also included dramatic conflict and a satisfying ending for the reader.

In the novel I wrote last year, my main character fell in love with the young carpenter hired to restore her grandmother’s old house. When I wrote the wedding scene, I set it in a rose garden on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in southern California. Next I did some research on wedding ceremonies and decided that my characters would want to write their own wedding vows.

My characters’ vows have something in common with the new covenant God gave us in his Son, Jesus. The new covenant is God’s promise to us that, through Jesus Christ, we can be everlastingly united with God in the bond of love.

Promises made and promises kept: These are daily demonstrations of our love for another person. Extreme love prompts us to promise all that we have and are to the person we love the most.

O God, you are the greatest Promise Maker of all—and the most faithful Promise Keeper! Help me today to keep the promises I make to the people I know, because that will reflect the integrity and faithfulness of the Lord I serve.

B. J. Bassett is a writer who lives at Muscle Beach, California. Her first novel is entitled Lily.