Galatians 3:15-18
15 To give a human example, brothers: even with
a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now
the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And
to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your
offspring,” who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law,
which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified
by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance
comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by
a promise.
Some people don’t believe that I look like a basketball
player, a “baller” if you will. For some reason people smirk or just
openly laugh at the idea of me actually playing basketball. You might not pick
me for your team first, but you could me sorry when you learn the fact that my
name is in the Basketball Hall of Fame. True story, I’m in the Hall of Fame,
the real NBA one. Inside it. On a wall. Jeffrey Harkins. So now what do you
think? You want me on your team now? Probably not.
Truth is that my grandfather worked on the construction crew
building the NBA Basketball Hall of Fame, so when he was putting the walls up
he took a Sharpie and wrote the name of each of his grandchildren on the wall
then put it up, so forever my name is in the Basketball hall of fame. That’s as
close as I’ll ever get, because I am terrible at basketball.
My family has this odd thing with writing names on stuff
though. That same grandfather’s house, if you walk through it and see anything
that you like and think looks interesting, pick it up, there is probably a name
written under it. Seriously. See an interesting vase or a collectible item that
grandparents would have or a cool picture in a frame, pick them up, there will
be a name under it. If there is not a name then you better find a sharpie quick
and throw your name on it. I am not making any of this up, we all have a standing
rule in my grandmother/grandfather’s house that if we want something after they
die we simply put our name on it now then after they die or they wanna get rid
of it - its ours. Morbid? Probably. But it’s practical.
I can see it now, when they die family members will be going
though the house and claiming things they wrote their name on years ago and
forgot about. Sounds terrible, but I have things from other grandparents that
have past and those are special to me, so these things with the names on them
that have been promised already, they will be special to whoever had their name
on it.
Now everyone in my family understands this odd little thing
that we do, but when it comes down to it when a person dies there are legal things
that have to happen, someone has to be the “executor” and someone
legally gets all the stuff. The law will assign that whole house and its
contents to someone in the family. But since that person is in the family, they
know the promise that my grandparents made - they will divvy up the stuff the
way it is supposed to go. And that is what this passage says: the Promise is
not taken away by the Law. When God gives a promise He will deliver. When He
promises you something, count it as done!
1. Anyone ever broken a promise that they
made to you? How’d that feel?
2. How can you be sure that God will
deliver on His promises?
3. What are some promises that God has made to you?
4. Take a minute and journal about this passage.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Written by Jeff Harkins
No comments:
Post a Comment