Write It Down

In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement in writing on a sealed document containing the names of our leaders, Levites, and priests. - Nehemiah 9:38

Have you ever been told that something needed to be "put in writing?" I have been in plenty of situations where such an action was assumed and many others when it was agreed upon by mutual consent.  It is often a good idea, particularly in business arrangements, to write it down.  An increasing number of churches (not that it is a new idea) have even begun to ask their members to sign a covenant as a symbol of the strength of their commitment to their local congregation. It might not be legally binding, but why not "write it down?"

In all such instances, we understand that the strength of any contract or covenant (written of not) lies in two things:

1. the desire of each party to honor it, and

2. a penalty that may be enforced upon the one who breaks it.

A person who breaks a church covenant has obviously lost the desire to keep it. The penalty? The greatest would be loss of membership, but I am not sure that this is not as much a penalty as just an acknowledgement of a reality.It seems to me that in the area of church membership, the most important thing about the covenant is "where" one signs. Only such commitments engraved upon the heart by the power of grace-infused character will be kept.

We just need to sign there.

Character is always lost when a high ideal is sacrificed on the altar of conformity and popularity. - C. H. Spurgeon