OUR DAILY BREAD : ROAD CONSTRUCTION

[cimi]

July 23
Tuesday


ROAD CONSTRUCTION

READ:
Jeremiah 31:31-34
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We have been delivered
from the law,...so
that we should serve
in the newness of the
Spirit. __Romans 7:6
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Here in Michigan we joke that we have two seasons: winter and road construction. Harsh winters damage road surfaces, so repair crews begin their work as soon as the ice melts and the ground thaws. Although we call this work "construction," much of what they do looks like "destruction." In some cases, simply patching holes is not an option. Workers have to replace the old road with a new one.

That's what it can feel like when God is at work in our lives. Throughout the Old Testament, God told His people to expect some major renovation on the road between Him and them (Isa. 62:10-11; Jer. 31:31). When God sent Jesus, it seemed to the Jews as if their way to God was being destroyed. But Jesus wasn't destroying anything. He was completing it (Matt. 5:17). The old way paved with laws became a new way paved with the sacrificial love of Jesus.

God is still at work replacing old ways of sin and legalism with the way of love that Jesus completed. When He removes our old ways of thinking and behaving, it may feel as if everything familiar is being destroyed. But God is not destroying anything; He is building a better way. And we can be confident that the end result will be smoother relationships with others and a closer relationship with Him. __Julie Ackerman Link

`````````````````Free from the law__O happy condition!``````````````````````
``````````````````Jesus has bled, and there is remission;`````````````````````
````````````````Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,`````````````````````
```````````````Grace has redeemed us once for all. __Bliss````````````````````
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Upheaval often precedes spiritual progress.

*****************Today's Bible Reading __ Jeremiah 31:31-34******************

31 "Behold, the days are
coming, says the LORD,
when I will make a new
covenant with the house of
Israel and with the house of
Judah__32 not according to
the covenant that I made
with their fathers in the day
that I took them by the
hand to lead them out of the
land of Egypt, My covenant
which they broke, though I
was a husband to them,
says the LORD. 33 But this is
the covenant that I will
make with the house of
Israel after those days, says
the LORD: I will put My law
in their minds, and write it
on their hearts; and I will
be their God, and they shall
be My people. 34 No more
shall every man teach his
neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, 'Know the
LORD,' for they all shall
know Me, from the least of
them to the greatest of
them, says the LORD. For I
will forgive their iniquity,
and their sin I will
remember no more.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

The frist recorded covenant was made by God to Noah after the
flood (Gen. 9:8-17). When God called Abraham to come out of Ur
in Mesopotamia, He made a covenant with him promising to make
him a great nation, giving him the land of Canaan, and promising
that through him all nations will be blessed (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:5-
16, 17:7-). In line with the Abrahamic covenant, God promised
David that every king who sat on the throne of Israel would be
his descendant (2 Sam. 7:10-16). Through the prophet Jeremiah,
God spoke of a new covenant (31:31-34) of which, according to
the writer of Hebrews, Christ is the mediator: "He [Jesus] is the
mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better
promises" (Heb. 8:6; see also 9:15; 12:24).