The one-handed clap …

Have you ever tried doing a one-handed clap?

It doesn’t work very well. In fact, it fails completely to offer a response in a positive way. All you have is a whoosh of air and the following silence as one hand waves alone.

It’s a failed response.

How we react to God offering us a New Covenant in Christ is often like offering a one-handed clap.

In the New Covenant, God’s part is that of making some remarkable promises to us. Our role is to respond to His promises. The Apostle Peter addressed this issue, first by laying a framework …

“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires,” 2 Peter 1:3-4.

Now take note of what Peter writes in the first part of the next verse:

“In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises …” 2 Peter 1:5a.

That simple portion of a sentence holds profound insight for us, something far too many people miss. Instead of responding to God, we look for the promises to be provided, ask for even more from God, and do very little in the way of responding to His promises, His provision, or His purpose.

Kind of a like a one-handed clap.

But a response is needed, and Peter gives us some detail as to what our response should look like …

“In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins,” 2 Peter 1:5-9.

Our Covenant relationship with God is not a show where God performs His promises and we passively receive. Rather, it is a dynamic interaction with us responding to God in as dramatic a fashion as God promises and provides. Because of His great promises to us, we respond with our whole lives.

To do anything less is to offer God a one-handed clap.

For those who respond appropriately, God will offer them a response beyond anything we could hope for: Him giving us a grand entrance (standing ovation, both hands clapping away!) into His kingdom …

“So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” 2 Peter 1:10-11.

Have you responded to God offering you a Covenant relationship with Him through Christ? How are you currently responding to His great promises to you?

Scotty