Even when we fall short, God remains faithful

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Jeremiah 31:31-34

It's hard to watch the evening news or read the headlines and not feel hopeless by all that is happening in the world. Throughout history, God's people have strayed away from God's word. The Israelites made poor choices and were drifting farther away from the covenant God made with them on Mt. Sinai. God does not give up on them, in the midst of their failures. Jeremiah announces a new covenant. It is no longer a covenant made out of stones but written on their hearts.

We give thanks that in the midst of our unfaithfulness, God claims us as God's people. We might not be able to change the world, but we are called to do our part. With this new spirit, our response is to live out God's law each and every day, not because we have to but because our hearts are shaped that way.

God of grace, thank you for reminding us that even when we fall short, you remain faithful. Help us boldly live out your covenant. Amen.

Julie Wilson
Associate in Ministry, Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Maple Grove, Minn.
Master of Arts , 2007
Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NRSV)

31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

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