TLIC FAMILY. DAY 209. JULY 28: MINISTERS.

THINK TOGETHER

Do you know what a minister is?

READ TOGETHER

One of life’s biggest questions is why are we here? What is our purpose on earth? People have been trying to answer this question since the beginning of time. As you get older you will probably start to ask these kinds of big questions more and more.

Fortunately for us the Bible gives us an answer to this great big question. Why are we here? Why do we exist? Why are we on earth?

The answer is to be loved by God and then share God’s love with others. The Apostle Paul calls it being a “minister of the new covenant.” Here’s what he says to the Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 3:4-6. ⁵our sufficiency is from God, ⁶who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Do you remember what a covenant is? A covenant is a set of promises that God makes to us in order to show us how much he loves us, and in order to have a relationship with us. In the Old Testament God made a covenant with his people that required them to obey God perfectly. But the Israelites could never obey God perfectly, and neither can we. And if we can’t obey God then we can’t have a relationship with God. That’s why Paul says that the “letter (the Old Covenant) kills.”

But there is good news! Through Jesus, God made a New Covenant with us. But this time it wasn’t up to us to obey God completely. Instead, Jesus obeyed completely for us. He did it all. He was perfect in our place. And now God’s great promise to us is that we can share in Jesus’ obedience. We can share his perfection, even when we aren’t perfect. 

And now, just like Jesus, we can tell others about this New Covenant of God’s love and grace too. In fact, that’s our purpose here on earth – to tell the good news of Jesus. To show people what it looks like to be a forgiven sinner, and a sharer in Jesus’ life. We are ministers of God’s New Covenant. And that’s a wonderful thing. We never have to wonder why we are here on earth. We are here to serve God by sharing his promise of love with everyone.

Because of Jesus we are living with God in the promises of his New Covenant love.

With Jesus we can be a minister of God’s New Covenant.

DO SOMETHING TOGETHER

Watch this scene from Toy Story together. Talk about how when Andy puts his name on Buzz he is promising to be Buzz’s forever. This is what God does for us in Jesus. He writes his name on us, promising to love and care for us forever.

PRAY TOGETHER

Jesus,

Because of you I can share in all of God’s promises. He will always love me, and care for me, and treat me like you. Help me to share these promises with others so that they can be in God’s New Covenant too.

Amen.

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