I have been doing a deep dive into contracts and contract law. I know, weird, right? But I have recently learned some things that I have found to be extremely interesting and even helpful in shifting my paradigm, which has been able to be translated in my counseling of others.
I won’t bore you with contract law or any of that. However, if you want to know more, there are plenty of resources out there to delve deep into those waters. What I will share with you is what I have been able to translate from my research into the therapeutic room.
Contracts are everywhere in our lives. What I choose to come into agreement with becomes a contract in a general sense of the word. Think about the last time you had to update your cell phone and had to agree to the terms and conditions before moving forward (I mean, how many of us really read those terms and conditions?). Or what about the family get-together you were invited to? Yes, that can be considered a contract too. Think about how you weigh out whether you will attend that family gathering? Is aunt Clara going? She always brings up politics and it always turns into a fight. Do I really want to be there for that? How about making a deal with your kids about screen time?
You see, though the word “contract” is often considered a legal agreement, there are ways that we come into agreement with general contracts all the time that we often don’t think twice about. Boundaries are one type of these contracts. What is the line we choose for ourselves that we adhere to (remember, healthy boundaries aren’t about putting things on others, but on what we will allow or not allow for ourselves)? Will I decide that going to the family gathering where Aunt Clara will be is worth it? Can I hold my tongue, or decide that if things start to get heated, I will just leave? Or is it best to choose to stay home because I know I will struggle to regulate my emotions and get caught up in a situation in which I say something hurtful to others? It’s an important area of contracts that most of us experience and often need some guidance with (please call The Center for Hope & Healing if you need help with maintaining healthy boundaries!).
Another area of contracts is our thought life. 2 Corinthians 10:5 states, “Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” (NKJV). When you think that negative belief, I’m not good enough, or I’m insignificant, are you capturing that thought and bringing it into captivity and speaking the truth to yourself? Or are you coming into agreement with it?
In my research about contracts, the Lord showed me something I hadn’t really thought through before. When Adam and Eve were in the garden, they had been given dominion (or asked to rule) over creation. They walked with God in the garden and were in close relationship with Him. Until Satan came and messed everything up.
You see, when Satan tempted Eve, he convinced her to relinquish her rulership (Adam followed suit) by disobeying God and coming into agreement with Satan. She had spiritually signed a binding contract that she was not aware she was signing. She didn’t read all the details of the contract because the enemy didn’t give her that option. But she agreed to the terms of the contract through implied consent by making the choice to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good an evil. It was a binding contract that not only affected her and Adam but affected all of mankind. It would be like someone signing a contract today to pledge their children and all the generations afterwards to be bound to the contract. Wow! That’s pretty heavy stuff.
But the story does not end there. You see, Jesus became man, while maintaining His deity with the Father and the Holy Spirit and lived a sinless life. He died on the cross, shedding His blood, which met the terms of the contract Adam and Eve unknowingly signed. Jesus then went to hell, took the keys of sin and death, and by His blood stamped that contract PAID IN FULL! He rose from the grave and took the power of sin and death with Him, completely canceling the contract, not just for Adam and Eve, but for every person thereafter! He gave us the ability to accept His work and come into agreement with the new contract He offers!
So, whether it’s a choice of agreeing to allow your kids some screen time, provided they complete their chores, or coming into agreement with those negative or anxious thoughts that you struggle with, or making the ultimate, completely life-changing decision to come into agreement with Jesus and accept His amazing and gracious redemption (or choose the opposite and suffer the natural consequences that came with the initial contract signed by Adam and Eve), be careful what you choose to come into agreement with. Even if you’re not physically signing a contract, a spiritual contract is made, and it is binding. Until the blood of Jesus is applied and you repent and break ties to that contract, it can and will affect your life in a profound way. My hope and prayer for everyone who reads this is that you will take these contracts seriously and begin making the choice to partner with the things that bring life.