A friend sent me a Whatsapp about the old days. I laughed out loud at the list of things that were actually revolutionary inventions in those days:

• • A generator that generated power from the wheel of his bicycle.
  • Chopper bikes.
  • Walking listening to music for the first time with a Walkman.
  • I was one of the first residents in the student house to have a computer and floppy disks!
  • A phone that you had to turn with your finger.
  • Our freezer had one of those aluminum ice cube trays with a handle to scoop out the ice cubes.
  • My dad wrote all his sermons on a typewriter.
  • As a child I had a camera that still used a roll of film to take pictures.
  • Black and white televisions inside a wooden cabinet. Fortunately, we had a color television.
  • Obviously, the gray Pioneer Hi-Fi system in a glass box.
  • And the young brick of a Nokia cell phone with an antenna, clipped to your belt.

When these things became available, everyone wanted them. They made life so much easier and more enjoyable. But today they no longer have any value. They have been replaced by newer and better models that work even better and make life even easier.

There comes a time when time has passed. That time is usually heralded by the new and better appearing on the horizon.

God entered into a new contract with the people. That meant that the old contract no longer existed. The old man’s time had passed. God had entered into that contract with Moses and the people had to live strictly by the rules. Their lives were restricted and their freedom at bay.

Part of the contract was that the priests had to kill animals and sacrifice them to God on behalf of the people. The animals bore the punishment of the people for their sins. But that was not a perfect plan. It was just a temporary plan. That is why the people had to bring the animals to the priests to be slaughtered and receive their punishment for all the bad things they had done over and over again.

When we remember that pact or agreement today, we want to laugh like our children laugh at all the old-fashioned things from our early years. Actually, we cannot understand that such an agreement existed. When we look at the old deal through the new one, we can hardly believe that it was also revolutionary in those days.

13By devising a new plan, a new covenant between God and his people, God put the old plan on the shelf. And there he stands, collecting dust.

However, the new one is much newer and better. God comes with love and draws up a new contract. He gets his hands dirty and gets down to business, giving people a new future. Jesus had to die on the cross. That was the final sacrifice that was more than enough.

In fact, a wonderful new contract that opens the gates of heaven for people. This new contract replaces the previous one. Let’s go live this new contract today and show people what true freedom in Jesus looks like.

Holy Scripture
Hebrews 8:6-13

Reflection
Are you living on the old or the new contract?
Can others see it?
How can you live differently?

Prayer
Father, thank you for taking the initiative to write a new contract between You and us the people. Thank you for Jesus taking everything on Him. Thank you that I know that now I can go to heaven. Not because I have done anything, but because Jesus has done everything for me. Thank you! In the name of Jesus, amen.