The world economy is built around contracts. We're very familiar with how contracts work:

An employer agrees to pay an employee a specified amount of money to do a specified amount of work. A customer agrees on a price for a professional service. Both parties must agree to and are legally bound to uphold their end of the deal. Contracts prevents surprises. They also prevent one party from taking advantage of the other.

Contracts make us feel in control and secure, so it's no wonder we often try to install contracts in other areas of lives as well. We add them to our relationships.If she stops doing this, then I'll stop doing that. Or, I'll start doing that when he starts doing this.Parents also often have unwritten contracts with their children, so it's no wonder we apply this if/then philosophy to our Heavenly Father as well.

We say,God, if you'll do this, I'll do that. Or, If God's done this, then it must be because I've done that.Many religions of the world are based on contracts.

But God's economy is built around a covenant, not a contract.

In a covenant, one or both parties agree that they will uphold their end of the deal regardless of whether the other participant upholds their end. In a covenant, each party says,I will do what I said I would do no matter what you do.

A covenant is a beautiful masterpiece, and God is the Artist.

His original covenant (Old Testament) was with the Abraham's descendants, the people of Israel. God would uphold his end of the deal if the Jews would keep the law. This system was designed to show the Israelites how impossible it was to keep the law and how much they needed a Savior. When Jesus' blood was shed on the cross, in one fell swoop, He upheld the demands of the Law for all of mankind who agreed to these new terms. Under this new covenant, we are now free from the impossible demands of the law.

So how come we keep acting like we're under a contract?

Also posted onLifetime.org.

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