A Circumcised Heart.
But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
(Romans 2:29, ESV).
Spiritual transformation happens inwardly (from the heart), and God shows that externally through your actions.
Hey everyone! It’s your girl Julie, and I’m back with another segment of “Salty & Lit.” In today’s post, we’re going to be talking about circumcision. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father God, we come before You, saying thank You for who You are. Thank You that it’s Your Word that transforms us from the inside out. Help us to know it’s Your truth that changes us and cleanses us and washes us white as snow. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
So circumcision… It’s not a common topic that we hear in our faith walk, but it’s a sign of covenant between God and the Jews. In Genesis 17, the topic of circumcision is introduced to Abraham, as an act that was done to solidify the covenant (promise) that God made to Abraham. Let’s read a bit:
4 “This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations! 5 What’s more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. 6 I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them!
7 “I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.”
This is the covenant that God made with Abraham: God will make Abraham the father of many nations, Abram’s name is changed to Abraham, Abraham will be extremely fruitful, and kings will come within his family line. Lastly, God will be Abraham and his descendants’ God, and God will give Abraham the land of Canaan.
Look at all these beautiful things that the Lord promised to give to Abraham, but this is what Abraham had to do:
10 This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised. 11 You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 From generation to generation, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased.
What Abraham had to do on his part was get circumcised (he, along with the males in his household). What that meant was that there was a cutting a part of themselves to show that they were separated unto God. If they didn’t do it on the eighth day, they weren’t part of God’s covenant until they did it. This covenant showed that people were marked by God, but we are not bound to physical circumcision anymore because we are under the law of grace, meaning we’re in Christ’s time, so we don’t have to be bound to some of the Old Testament laws (circumcision being one of them).
In Romans, Paul introduces a new idea of circumcision: He says that circumcision is not something physical (it’s something inwardly), and that person receives praise from God and not man (Romans 2:29). What this means is a person who is marked by God is separated through an inward transformation by the Holy Spirit. Their past is gone, and their new has come. Friend, circumcision is a stripping away of yourself to demonstrate that you’ll be separated unto God. Sometimes, the circumcision can look like a stripping of ideologies; a stripping of friendships; a stripping of loved ones; a stripping of ideas, but all in all, it’s to make you more like Christ. Circumcision is to bring God glory and to show God that you are His. Circumcision from the heart demonstrates that very thing: you are Abba’s, and you are set apart for Him.
What does this mean for you?
What is God calling you to separate from?
What would it look like for you to live holy (set apart for Him)?
How would it feel to know that God calls you to be separated?
Take time to reflect and pray to God about how to go about separating from the things of this world. He calls you to be set apart for Him and His kingdom. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father God, we come before You saying thank You. Thank You for being holy. Thank You for being righteous and calling us to live set apart. Teach us what that means in our daily lives. In Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.
Well, that’s all I have. Don’t forget you are loved, salty, and lit! 🧡
