our covenant of hope

God made a covenant with Adam and it was sealed in blood.  Abram gave his blood at circumcision, God would give His blood in His Son when He hung on the cross.  Modern man uses ink to enter covenant and some of them can be broken, it’s called a loop hole.  God called for the shedding of blood, if anyone broke the covenant his blood would be required.  God is very serious about covenant and we need also to be.
 
James 2:23 Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the friend of God.
 
Friend is a covenant term, when two men enter into a covenant they become friends.  A true friend will never abandon you no matter what happens to you in your life.  The term friend goes far beyond “two buddies”, it defines a relationship where one friend is willing to die for the other.  Friendship today is ratified with ink, a Bible covenant is ratified with blood.  We have treaties with “friendly” nations but someone is always cheating on the treaty trying to get an advantage.
 
Proverbs 18:24 There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.
 
I have a friend that loves to quote this phrase all the time: “You choose your friends but you’re stuck with your family”.  Most times family members keep a record of all your blunders and short comings, your friends don’t care what you have done.  When God made covenant with us He knew we were imperfect, but He didn’t let that influence His decisions.  He knew that if we honored the covenant we would be better people than we ever were.
 
John 15:13 Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
 
There are certain people that if you’re going to love them as a friend, you must be willing to overlook a lot of their faults.  God loves us despite all the weird and stupid things we do, He sent His Son to die for a world full of perverts.  God made friends of people who hated Him and wanted nothing to do with Him.  He knew that once men began to see Him as He is, they would soften their hearts and repent.  A true friend will always make us a better person, unless you’re like Judas that sold his soul to the devil for thirty pieces of silver.  Judas had no friends, he would not inconvenience himself for anyone unless he could make money.
 
Exodus 33:11 And the Lord spoke into Moses face to face as a man would speak unto his friend.
 
If we are in argument with our Lord then He will call us friend, and if we be friends, He will talk to us like a friend.  We are not God’s buddies, we are His friends as long as we are willing to hear and do what He says.  We all begin as strangers knowing nothing of our Lord and Savior, but He pursues us with His goodness.  Love can wear down the hardest of hearts given enough time, God doesn’t want us to be strangers to Him, He wants to call us His friends.  Does God call you friend?  Are you doing what a friend should do?  If you are a friend of God then you have the covenant of hope that promises something good every day.  A friend of God is never without the backing of heaven and all its angels, God always has the back of His friends.