The Unbroken Bond

If we were to draw a graph depicting our bond with God, what would it look like? Perhaps a straight steady line tending upwards? Perhaps a continuous unbroken curve with peaks and troughs cycling upwards? Or perhaps a broken dotted line, breaking off, and joining back with the main line again afterwards?

We are bonded to Christ through His blood. This is a special bond. Jesus bought us for a price—His own precious life. Today we are saved because of this bond with our Savior.

How do we maintain this bond?

As we read David’s prayers to God we find that he faced huge responsibilities as king and met with waves of difficulties in his life. Yet God’s presence constantly comforted and inspired him—not only in the peaks but also in the troughs of his life.

Thus my heart was grieved,
And I was vexed in my mind.
I was so foolish and ignorant;
I was like a beast before You.
Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You hold me by my right hand.

(Ps 73:21–23)

David clung to God in his heart and knew that God was continually with him while he reigned, fought, and fled. In moments of peace and in moments of distress, he supplicated to God. In his moment of inattentiveness and folly, he committed two great sins, but when awareness hit him, he bitterly repented with a sorrowful and contrite heart. God was never very far from his thoughts. David recognized the need to keep the bond he shared with His Creator and Savior, and that he was accountable to God for all his deeds.

The joy we experience is boundless when we realize the need to hold on tight to this bond. Like the bond a parent shares with his child or a husband with his wife, all parties sharing the bond experience one another’s happiness, pains, and sorrows. Our sorrows halve, our joys double, and our graces multiply as we draw near to Him and enjoy a close bond with our Lord Jesus.

 

Reflection:

1.        We are bonded to Christ in baptism. How do we work towards strengthening our bond with God?

2.        What are the dangers of a broken bond?

3.        How do we maintain an unbroken bond with God in times of suffering or distress?