Although many people use the two words interchangeably, a contract is not the same thing as a covenant. A contract is always bilateral and conditional. In other words, “I will do this on the condition that you will do that, and if you fail to do what is specified, then you will be in violation of the contract, and I will thereby be released from any further obligation to you.”
A covenant is different. It is always unilateral and unconditional. That is, there are no ifs, ands, or buts in a covenant. It doesn’t matter whether the other party lives up to his half of the bargain or not. If you promise to do something—let’s say, love another person—you are obligated to do that simply by virtue of the fact that you promised you would. If the other person chooses not to return your love, or rejects it altogether, it doesn’t release you from continuing to love them.
Given this definition, some have argued that human beings are incapable of 100%, unconditional love. We may claim that we will love the other person no matter what, but in reality, even the best of us have our limits. After all, if the other person refuses to accept our love, or abuses it, then that will have an inevitable impact on our ability to keep loving them.
However, I’m not quite ready to concede that unconditional love is a human impossibility. Difficult, yes—but not impossible!
Consider the Old Testament story of David and Jonathan. After Saul and Jonathan are killed by the Philistines, what little remains of the house of Saul goes into hiding and David is made king over Israel. A few years pass before David learns that Jonathan had a son, Mephibosheth, a crippled youth, surviving in the squalor of an outcast camp. Because of the covenant that David made with Jonathan, David has Mephibosheth brought to him, and not only restores his land but invites him to always dine amid the splendor of the king’s table. Mephibosheth apparently does so, but then quickly vanishes to return to the outcast camp.
Many more years pass, and suddenly one day Mephibosheth, in tattered rags, shows up once again at King David’s palace. When David asks him why he left, Mephibosheth in essence replies, “My people told me you were not to be trusted, and I believed them. I thought it was too good to be true. But after watching you from afar, I have come to realize that your charity, your unconditional love, and your covenant, is for real.”
Sometimes it’s difficult to believe that anyone could love us in that way—with no expectations, no conditions, no strings attached. But it is what God has called each of us to do—and God would never call us to do something of which we are not capable!
A covenant is different. It is always unilateral and unconditional. That is, there are no ifs, ands, or buts in a covenant. It doesn’t matter whether the other party lives up to his half of the bargain or not. If you promise to do something—let’s say, love another person—you are obligated to do that simply by virtue of the fact that you promised you would. If the other person chooses not to return your love, or rejects it altogether, it doesn’t release you from continuing to love them.
Given this definition, some have argued that human beings are incapable of 100%, unconditional love. We may claim that we will love the other person no matter what, but in reality, even the best of us have our limits. After all, if the other person refuses to accept our love, or abuses it, then that will have an inevitable impact on our ability to keep loving them.
However, I’m not quite ready to concede that unconditional love is a human impossibility. Difficult, yes—but not impossible!
Consider the Old Testament story of David and Jonathan. After Saul and Jonathan are killed by the Philistines, what little remains of the house of Saul goes into hiding and David is made king over Israel. A few years pass before David learns that Jonathan had a son, Mephibosheth, a crippled youth, surviving in the squalor of an outcast camp. Because of the covenant that David made with Jonathan, David has Mephibosheth brought to him, and not only restores his land but invites him to always dine amid the splendor of the king’s table. Mephibosheth apparently does so, but then quickly vanishes to return to the outcast camp.
Many more years pass, and suddenly one day Mephibosheth, in tattered rags, shows up once again at King David’s palace. When David asks him why he left, Mephibosheth in essence replies, “My people told me you were not to be trusted, and I believed them. I thought it was too good to be true. But after watching you from afar, I have come to realize that your charity, your unconditional love, and your covenant, is for real.”
Sometimes it’s difficult to believe that anyone could love us in that way—with no expectations, no conditions, no strings attached. But it is what God has called each of us to do—and God would never call us to do something of which we are not capable!
posted by Dr. Robert Crilley at
6:14 PM
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