Today's Devotional
November 20, 2007
Subject: A New Connection
Hebrews 8:6 - 7 "But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second."
Hebrews 8:10 - For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Where do I begin complaining about the problems we have with our current satellite internet and tv connections. First of all when it rains or when we get bad weather, we lose both of them. That means if the weather is really bad we've got to turn on a radio to find out what's going on. Then our internet service gives us a download maximum each day. Usually when I'm preparing for church I'll download videos and music off of the web. If I go over the maximum amount, which is really low, they cut off internet browsing for 24 hours. None of these problems even mention the astronomical price that we have to pay for this service. We were held captive because they were the only game in town, until now that is.
Stop the presses! Ladies and Gentlemen, here it is. The latest in high speed/broadband connectivity. Welcome to the world of fiber optics. For the past few months, my wife and I had seen AT&T trucks working on streets adjacent to ours and my wife kept asking the workers what they were doing. All they could say was, we're putting in fiber optics. They didn't know what it really meant. Finally, last week we received a call saying that we now could get internet and tv service through our AT&T fiber optic network. We researched all of the capabilities and man is it good. In addition to that, their basic service, at more than twice the speed of our old service, is half the price. We've got a new connection.
This is just like God ushering in the new covenant. Those living under the old covenant did it because it was the only one offered, but God had something so much better coming and as the scripture says, "if there hadn't been a problem with the first one, there wouldn't have been a need for a second one."
In the old covenant, God would reject His own if they didn't continue in His covenant, but God has given us a new covenant. In this one, written in our hearts and minds, He makes us permanently His. That doesn't mean that we don't face harsh consequences for disobedience, but it does mean that through this new covenant, we can forever be His. This new covenant came through Jesus Christ. Accept Jesus today and you've got a new connection and it's the last upgrade you'll ever need.
Carlen
