majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 30:6,
"The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your
descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all
your soul, and live."
In this chapter Moses speaks of a time when the Lord will circumcise
the Israelites hearts. This will be when the Israelites return to the
Lord and obey him with all their hearts. The Lord will restore their
fortunes, bring them back to the land and circumcise their hearts so
that they may love him with all their hearts and souls and live.
We know what literal circumcision is, but what is this "circumcision"
of the heart? We read of this in Paul's letter to the Romans. "A man
is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely
outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and
circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the
written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God."
Romans 2:28-29. Here we learn of a circumcision of our hearts that is
not outward but done in the heart by the Holy Spirit. It stands as
opposed to an outward obedience to keeping the law and as such renders
keeping the law as an external or outward expression moot.
When the new covenant was announced through Jeremiah, the Lord said he
would write the law on the minds and hearts of his people, Jeremiah
31:31-33. The need for this is that we are born into life with a sin
nature. We need a new nature to live lives that are pleasing to God
and so when we become his children he sends the Holy Spirit who
"circumcises" the sin nature of our hearts and begins to produce
spiritual fruit in our lives, See Galatians 5:16-26 for a great
discussion of this by Paul.
What I find so wonderful about our Lord is that he doesn't just save
us from his wrathful judgment, but he also changes us from within such
that our lives become pleasing to him. He circumcises our hearts!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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