The loss of covenant and faithfulness in our society

In a modern society such as ours, there are many things the anti-God people seek to do away with. Foundational, stabilizing principles such as marriage, raising families, working hard to take care of a family, have all come under intense pressure in our modern times. Legislation from the ungodly seeks to change the traditions, values, and even the meaning of words. The word covenant is a word that is not used in our times, although we do still use the words promise and guarantee, which are synonymous with the word covenant.

In the 1950s, my mother was divorced and had two small children. She came from a traditional God-fearing family with a mother and father, who believed in working hard, being true to values, and raising a family. My brother and I were taken and raised by our grandparents after my  parents split up. In the 1950s, that was not the normal. Families were mostly still intact at the time, and most everyone was raised by their parents. I graduated in a class of 168 students. Of that number, I  believe there were only about three of us who had a “different” type of family situation, and I may have been the only one being raised by grandparents. So my situation was definitely in the minority and I always felt “different” because my parents were not raising me. My father was nowhere to be found and did not participate in our upbringing. My mother came to visit from time to time.

Through the years since then, as the family unit has continued to break down, it is no longer abnormal for grandparents to be found raising their grandchildren. The 1960s and 1970s brought a drug and sexual revolution that did not encourage fidelity to one person in a committed relationship. It was like opening the gates and letting wild horses run free. “Tune in, turn on, and drop out” was the motto of the day. Experimentation with drugs, alcohol, and sex became widespread. Keeping your word and committing yourself to family life with children and a mate, well, not so much. Until death do us part has lost its value and meaning in our throwaway society with increasingly liberal divorce laws.

And so the assault on having children and family values has continued to grow with even greater ferocity. Fortunately for my brother and I, abortion was not legal at the time, even though I know a person who had one in the early 50s somewhere in the country.

Synonyms for Covenant

Other words describing covenant are contract, treaty, pact, deal, agreement, pledge, promise, bond, guarantee, and commitment. Covenant means to make a binding agreement with someone. “For better or worse, in sickness and in health, until death do us part” is the wording of the usual marriage covenant or contract between men and women throughout the years.  I haven’t been to a wedding in a very long time, so I don’t know if people even say those words any more. I hope they still do.

In business, we have agreements that are written out specifying the terms which are agreed to by both parties. If one person breaks the agreement, there are consequences. I know of a recent business agreement that was made where taxpayer revenues were involved. The receiver of those revenues broke the contract right away by not meeting its conditions. He ended up paying a lot of money back to the taxpayers, and rightly so. He signed the agreement. He promised to abide by its terms and he broke his oath. 

Business agreements are covenants

In agreements made by a business who wishes to be hired for municipal projects, a bond is required. This bond is an amount of money that is offered with the bid. It is a type of guarantee that the business can complete the work they are about to contract with the municipality. The most common form of bid guarantee is a surety bond or bid bond. In addition to providing protection for the local government in case the successful bidder backs out, a bid bond also indicates that the bonding company or surety has screened the financial capability of the bidder and determined that the bidder represents a reasonable risk. With a bid bond, a surety group has conducted a financial review of the contractor to ascertain that he can meet the conditions of the agreement. It’s too bad we don’t have this type of guarantee for marriages!

Government entities are quite particular about others keeping their word although we observe they may not be very particular about keeping their own promises to their citizens. Our federal and state constitutions are actually covenants between a government and its citizens. I am of the opinion that when the government breaks its word to its own citizens by violating the terms of its constitution, the document is no longer in effect, The agreement has been effectively annulled.

God’s word is a covenant, a promise to and for us

The Hebrew word for covenant is “berith” and refers to cutting. Early covenants in man’s history in the bible involved bloodletting of some form. This was to portray the seriousness of the action. Keeping one’s word is important to God. In the beginning, God created the worlds and everything in it by speaking words.The scripture says in the book of Hebrews 1:3 that “He upholds all things by the word of his power.“

The Passion translation (TPT) says,“He holds the universe together and expands it by the mighty power of His spoken word.” Hebrews 6:13 says of the covenant God made with Abraham, “For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,”…” If God did not keep His word, the world we live in would collapse. It is that serious of a matter. There are warnings in the New Testament that speak of covenant breakers. One of them is in Romans 1:31. Not all bible versions use the term covenant breakers. They use terms such as break their promise, faithless, untrustworthy, unreliable. The Amplified bible uses the terms conscienceless and faithless, but the verse is talking about people who don’t keep their word.

We can be faithful and keep our word

Have you broken your word? I have. I have broken my covenant marriage vows. I would say most everyone has broken their word at one time or other. We all have been faithless, untrustworthy, and unreliable in various things. But you don’t have to stay there. You can repent and start over. God will help you keep your word, your covenant, your promise. He is the faithful One. He will never break His word to us. He has promised to help us. 

There are huge reasons for us to be faithful with our words. We were made in the image of God, which means our words have great power. That is part of man’s original purpose. In a world where people don’t value their words or their promises, we can stand out as people who are faithful, who do keep our word. If you are not born again or saved, you cannot keep your word, not fully. You have to make Jesus the Lord of your life and accept God as your Father. Then you become like Him. Only He is faithful…but He can make you faithful too. I promise!