Ministering the New Covenant of Christ

2 Corinthians 3:6 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant —not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (NIV)

We are ministers of the new covenant. When Christ spoke with His disciples in the Upper Room just before He was arrested and crucified, He told them that His blood would be the blood of the New Covenant.

The Bible says the wages of sin is death. So, for all of us who have sinned, the correct punishment is death. However, Jesus came and died in our place so that our sins would be forgiven. This is the new covenant. The letter of the law required death. It was harsh. It was condemning. But the New Covenant is a covenant of grace and forgiveness. We are called to be ministers of grace.

To be ministers of the Gospel and enjoy God’s plan, we must be quick to forgive and encourage others to forgive quickly as well. Without forgiveness, there is no ministry. Without living out the ministry God has called us to, we cannot live in the abundant life God has promised.

It is not natural to forgive. The natural self wants to protect itself from the pain by refusing to forgive. However, when people want to inflict pain, they could care less how we feel about it; they just do it anyway. Unforgiveness, though it seems protective, is not. Instead, the greater damage is done to us when we stay bitter because of what people have done to us. This bitterness locks us down so we cannot even enjoy the good things around us. We have all known someone who has been really hurt in life, and their bitterness and unforgiveness have made them miserable. Forgiveness opens the path to God’s great plan for our lives.

Prayer: Lord, help me to forgive even when I don’t feel people deserve it, just as You forgave me. Amen

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