A New Way to Live

One wife received a daily list of chores her husband wanted her to do-cleaning, errands, cooking. Every morning he'd remind her of this list, and at night, he would check to see if she had completed her tasks.

She dutifully completed each task knowing she would face trouble if she didn't. Eventually the husband died and she remarried.

One day she was rummaging through a drawer and found an old list. When she read it, she thought, Wow! I'm doing every one of those things--not because I have to--but because I love to please my husband!

That's how it is under the New Covenant. With His law in our hearts, it is natural for us to want to obey Him. When God puts it in us to love Him with all our hearts, we want to express our love to Him in everything we do.

Many live under the Old Covenant. They receive His Word and respond, "Yes, we will do whatever You want us to do." Later they find that their desires are contrary to what God wants and may even feel powerless to obey. They are sorry. They seek His forgiveness, and again set out to do His will.

Eventually they could agree with Paul, "Oh wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me?"

The New Covenant provides something better--a heart that delights to do God's will.

Thank You, dear Lord, for putting Your law within my heart. That I-want-my-own-way attitude has been replaced by a yielded heart that says, "Not my will, but Yours."

"I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart" (Psalm 40:8 NKJV).

Aletha