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Topic:The circumcised life
READ THE SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 17: 9-27
This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
Genesis 17:10
What a strange thing this is, that it literally represents cutting the flesh as a sign of the lordship of God! This is the great sign of the Jews, which is part of God’s purpose as a sign of His possession, that they were an instrument of God that would be used for blessing among the nations. It was placed in that particular part of the body to indicate that they should be physically separated from other nations. The very organ that could be violated bore in itself the mark of God’s property. In reading the course of Jewish history, we see how this brand, whose purpose was to be a sign of humility and service, has been perverted, becoming a brand of superiority and favoritism. Those who took her started to consider others as “gentile dogs”, and to be themselves paid for their own righteousness and proud of their supposed favored position before God. Thus began the spirit of anti-Semitism that afflicts the world, so that today the spirit of anti-gentilism that preceded it has appeared and, of course, this does not justify either of the two positions.
Let us remember now that what was physical and literal for Abram is intended to have a spiritual meaning for us. In the New Testament we do not read about circumcision but about the heart, which is the symbol of the soul, the mind, the emotions and the will, that is, the whole personality. All believers in Christ must have in their hearts the sign of the lordship of Christ. All personality must be at your disposal.
This is the meaning of the circumcision of the heart: The hearts of the believers must be totally at Christ’s disposal, so that He will use them according to His will, with all their emotions, their mind and intellect dedicated and available, ready before the Lord. mandate of Jesus Christ to be used for His purposes. Paul says to the Philippians: “We are circumcised, we who in spirit serve God and glory in Christ Jesus, having no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3: 3). We must not depend in any way on ourselves, but totally on Him. Every thought, every imagination must remain captive in Christ, who is the circumcised life. “Walk, then, before me and be sincere and blameless.” That will be a life of fruit, a life that truly pleases God,
Father, it is very possible that I give the impression that I belong to you totally, in spite of which it is quite false in what refers to that ideal. Help me discover the glory of the circumcised life.
Application to life
As people who belong to Christ, we are supposed to automatically carry the sign of His lordship in our entire personality. Are we thinking and responding as if Jesus were alive in us?
