Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. | Hebrews 12:1–2
The Covenant of Redemption is how God organizes the story of humanity, so that we will understand ourselves in relation to God. This grand story of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration becomes the organizational tool for all of the events, characters, and laws in the Bible. It also becomes the means by which we understand our own existence. Who we are in relation to God, what we exist for, and what we are living toward inform every part of our lives.
It would be right to say: this makes your life about God’s story. This does not mean that your story is all of a sudden obsolete. To be unified with God is not to commit to a bland, boring life of sameness. The covenant is not just a list of dont’s. It is a grand story (sometimes called the Meta-narrative) that directs all other stories. It gives all other stories their form.
We see this in the Bible. There are various smaller covenants, which all make sense because of the Covenant of Redemption. They are held together by the larger story, but they also give texture to it. Likewise, these smaller covenants inform the experiences of the characters who live under them. These stories are part of a rich fabric of stories we never read and will never know that have their place because of the structure of the stories all around.
What this means for us is that we don’t just cast our story away when we become a Christian; our story gets context. The things that we have seen and done now have the structure to be understood from God’s perspective. Not only that, but all of these other lives, the people who used to simply be other stories happening around us, now overlap and become part of us (this is where the Bible’s description of community like a body comes in). Your story doesn’t go away, it gets much more complex. Now that your purpose is connected deeply with God and others, you lose a bit of your sense of control.
What this does is changes your focus. Your story now becomes about aligning with God’s story. How do the events of my life bring glory to God or not? What is getting in the way? This is why the author of Hebrews calls us to: lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely. There are things in our life that do not fit God’s story. Setting these things aside is not robbing from your story, but getting the things out that never belonged. We were created to worship God and to be in a loving relationship with Him. This is what is best for us. Laying aside the things that prevent this is adding to your story, not taking away from it.
This isn’t easy. Getting your life in line with God’s is also going to put you into a place where you suffer with Him. This world of sin does not congratulate you for choosing God’s story over its own. Instead, to live your life for God’s glory is going to be a challenge. This is why it says: let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus. We can endure in the face of resistance by looking to Jesus; by remembering that the story is bigger than us. When we focus in the fact that Jesus has already acted to overcome evil, is ruling over the world from His throne, and will return to bring all things into alignment, we can both endure hardship, but also gain the motivation to live each and every moment for Him.
We need this future assurance because the present is so often cloudy. There are so many things that seem to be working against the glory of God and against our attempts to be His people. This often makes us feel like our story means nothing. To quote Ecclesiastes: life is a vapor.
The covenant assures us that our story matters because God has chosen to make our story part of His story. We can live with confidence and principle knowing that the ultimate purpose of our life is not in what others think of us or what we are able to accomplish, but in how God has worked to bring us into redemption. His story profoundly changes ours, because it decentralizes us, not to cast us away, but to make us able to be welcomed in. Writing our own story will only end in frustration and pain, but connecting to God’s story infuses our lives with grace. Grace is what defines us.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. | 1 Peter 2:10