"..Jesus has been given priestly work which is superior to theirs,..the covenant which he arranged between God and his people is a better one, because it is based on promises of better things. If there had been nothing wrong with the first covenant, there would have been no need for a second one..By speaking of a new covenant, God has made the first one old; and anything that becomes old and worn out will soon disappear." (Hebrews 8:6-13 GNB)

paradigm, paradigm shift - From the Greek word paradhma (paradigma),... a paradigm is simply the predominant worldview in the realm of human thought..A paradigm shift occurs when cultures transform their way of thinking from one thought system to another. For instance, prior to Copernicus and Galileo (ca. 1600), most people believed that astral bodies revolved around the earth (geocentrism); but after the Copernican Revolution (ca. 1600), it became obvious that the earth revolved around the sun (heliocentrism) -- thus, a major paradigm shift occurred from geocentrism to heliocentrism..Simply put, then, a paradigm shift is a pivotal change in humanity's way of thinking regarding a particular worldview.

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In part 3(click here to read it) we looked at why we need to know the covenant under which we live. God introduced the new to replace the old, we can only relate with Him on the basis of the covenant that is in place.

The old covenant demanded that dead fallen man should live according to the standards of a divine life without providing the means by which to do it. Here is why the old has been replaced.

1. "Moses wrote God's Law in a book, taking care not to leave out anything. When he finished, he said to the levitical priests, who were in charge of the LORD's Covenant Box, "Take this book of God's Law and place it beside the Covenant Box of the LORD your God, so that it will remain there as a witness against his people. I know how stubborn and rebellious they are. They have rebelled against the LORD during my lifetime, and they will rebel even more after I am dead. Assemble all your tribal leaders and officials before me, so that I can tell them these things; I will call heaven and earth to be my witnesses against them. I know that after my death the people will become wicked and reject what I have taught them. And in time to come they will meet with disaster, because they will have made the LORD angry by doing what he has forbidden."" (Deuteronomy 31:24-29 GNB)

2. "So indeed the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. Then has that which is good become death to me? Let it not be! But sin, that it might appear to be sin, working death in me by that which is good; in order that sin might become exceedingly sinful by the commandment. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I know not. For what I desire, that I do not do; but what I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I do not desire, I consent to the law that it is good. But now it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I do not find." (Romans 7:12-18 MKJV)

3. "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh;" (Romans 8:3 MKJV)

4. "If such is the case, is the law, then, an anti-promise, a negation of God's will for us? Not at all. Its purpose was to make obvious to everyone that we are, in ourselves, out of right relationship with God, and therefore to show us the futility of devising some religious system for getting by our own efforts what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete his promise. For if any kind of rule-keeping had power to create life in us, we would certainly have gotten it by this time."

(Galatians 3:21 MSG)

5. "while God's people, who were seeking a law that would put them right with God, did not find it. And why not? Because they did not depend on faith but on what they did. And so they stumbled over the "stumbling stone" " (Romans 9:31-32 GNB)

6. "..anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: "Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law." The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: "The person who believes God, is set right by God--and that's the real life." Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: "The one who does these things [rule-keeping]continues to live by them."" (Galatians 3:10-12 MSG)

Tried the hardest

To be the best I could

Figured with His help

I could be the best I should

I failed spectacularly

I couldn't believe it

Just when it looked

Like I was invincible

Flat on my face I fell

Carried the guilt

Felt the Lashing of their tongues

My "brothers" and "sisters" in Him

I imagined His disgust

His telling looks

Of utter disappointment

He would have expected better

If I can't make it with His help

Will I ever make it?

Turned out to be untrue

To Him it was no surprise

Knowing from the start

It would never work out

Me trying so hard

Just to be like Him

It says Christ in me

That is the only hope

Not I in me

Not Christ with me

But Christ as me

Replacing the me that could not

With the Christ that has

Failure came to show me

The limitations of self

A prod to give up trying

An admonition to start being

Abiding and manifesting

The Christ in me

Selah

(To be continued..)

click here to read part 5

To view others instalments in the series, click here