Circumcise Your Hearts!

"For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God." -Romans 2:25-29

Well, these verses go very nicely with the last few that we looked at...
It's a slightly different twist on the same issues we saw in verses 17-24. Paul is going after the heart of those who would claim Christ as Lord and is asking them, "What is really god to you? Is it the God of universe, or is it something which He has created?"

This is an important question, which Paul asks in 25-29... What is genuine circumcision?

I think the answer is "circumcision of the heart." That's what God desires of us. We see countless times in the Scriptures where Jesus is talking to a large crowd and one of His biggest issues was that the actions and the words of the Pharisees and Sadducees didn't line up. Not only that, but the fact that He knew their hearts, and the pride and duplicity with which their disciplined lives were laced... Being outwardly circumcised, they had a false sense of security and belonging, all the while their hearts were completely uncircumcised! The covenant they kept was one of outward obedience, but their hearts were still chained to their desires for worldly pleasure and monetary gain.

You know... pride is an extremely dangerous thing! It's a very common problem too! It takes root when we live the life of the "good Christian" on the outside, but we do not change what's wrong inside of us. We see those who are struggling around us and, since our hearts are not humbled, we look down upon the "weaker brother." Friends, it is a dangerous position, when you find yourself feeling contempt for the struggling believer, rather than feeling compassion for such a one...

Well, that's pretty much an entirely different subject all-together, but I can't help but rail a little on such a predominant issue as hypocrisy! My apologies....

So, how do we become inwardly circumcised? How do we belong completely and wholly to the God we serve?

There's a couple of things to look at here...

First, the work of inward circumcision is done by the Holy Spirit. (v. 29) Paul says in Romans 7:18 "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not." The Holy Spirit does the work of conviction in our lives and is the One who empowers us to do the will of the Father. In and of ourselves we could not live uprightly.

Secondly, we must look at the things which we call "god" in our lives. God says, very simply, in Exodus 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before Me." And Jesus says in Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other You cannot serve God and wealth." Notice the NO ONE can serve two masters... Jesus says that it is impossible to be wholly devoted to two different things... and with God, you cannot be only partially His. He hates the lukewarm... "And because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth." (Revelation 3:16)

So, we see two definitive truths alive in these verses. A relationship with Christ means that our inward being is wholly devoted to and belongs completely to Christ. And, secondly, we see that the Holy Spirit is at work in us.... which means that we must listen (through the study of the scriptures and through our conscience) to His prompting in our lives. (Phil. 1:6, 2:13, Romans 5:5, 8:14,16, 1 Cor. 2:11-14)

Also, if you look at the last few words of verse 29, "and his praise is not from men, but from God." This is, once again, extremely indicative of the heart... are we striving for the praise of men? Or do we operate in such a way that we do the things which nobody else will ever see, just because it's the right thing to do? Do we honor God in the small, unobserved ways? Or just in the ways which are noticeable by others?

All of this to say, "Be circumcised in your hearts." We are not trying to be Jews, but we are trying to live lives which honor God and show Him to be our Lord. We ought to be striving for sincerity, as I mentioned last week, in every aspect of our lives.

Well, I'll leave you with these thoughts... I know it's given me plenty to think on!

Grace and Peace!

Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .