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Covenant Relationships Require Confrontation and Forgiveness
by Dr. Gary Chapman
Trace God's covenants with his people throughout the Old Testament (Noah in Genesis 9, Abraham in Genesis 17, Moses in Exodus 19, Joshua in Joshua 24, David in 2 Samuel 7, and others), and you will find that God's people often failed to live up to their covenant commitments to God.
With even a casual reading of the Old Testament, we marvel that Israel could fail so often. Did God abandon his people because of their failures? Very clearly, the answer is no. On the other hand, did God ignore their failures? Again, the answer is no.
God always confronted Israel with failures, but stood ready to forgive.
These two response (confrontation and forgiveness) are essential in a covenant marriage.
Confrontation means holding the other person responsible for his/her actions. Forgiving means a willingness to lift the penalty and continue a loving, growing relationship.
I'll discuss this further in tomorrow's email.
This article is taken from Dr. Chapman's book, Now You're Speaking My Language published by Broadman and Holman.
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