Hebrew 8:8-13

8But God found fault with the and said:    “The time is coming, declares the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah.    9It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took
them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful
to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.  10This is the
covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.  I will be their
God, and they will be my people.   11No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or
a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from
the least of them to the greatest.   12For I will forgive their wickedness and will
remember their sins no more.”  13By calling this covenant “new,” he has made
the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

MEDITATION
1. “New” and “Free” are two catchy words for any salesperson.  It also says
here that the old system of Law didn’t work (vv 7, 9, 13) and was “obsolete
and aging”.  The New Covenant provides total forgiveness for all our wicked
acts (v 12).  Because Christ has paid the ransom, God no longer holds us
accountable for our sins.  The Old Covenant engraved standards that men
were unable to meet on tablets of stone.  The New Covenant engraves
the desire to please God in our inmost being, and moves us to what Law
demanded, but could not produce.
2. When it comes to faith, “new!” means for people who have tried everything
else, and can turn to Jesus and find themselves forgiven and renewed.  And,
it is “free”.  The salvation offered us in Christ, costs us nothing.
3. Meditate the following paragraph:  We ought to be Christians in large type,
so that it would not be necessary for others to be long in our society, or to
regard us through spectacles, in order to detect our true discipleship.  The
message of our lives should resemble the big advertisements which can be
read on the street by all who pass by.  – F. B. Meyer
How big is my “Disciple billboard”? Pray that the Lord will enlarge it to
become more and more visible to those passing by.

Personal Note:
Christianity is not about following rules and regulations in order to go to heaven.  Our faith in Christ is our desire to follow Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour.  It is a relationship with God.  God gave all of us a desire to worship Him.  We become who we are made to be when we worship God.