The Circumcised Heart

Romans 2: 11-13  -   For God does not show favoritism. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.  For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.

From the beginning of time…God has hated all sin.  He has never shown favoritism….to anyone!  Adam and Eve received the same wrath and consequences as we do today. They were banished from the garden where they could walk and talk with God every day…just as our sins today separate us from a loving God who wants the best for all his children.  We must stop being hypocrites! We must stop saying one thing…and showing those around us something different!

Paul talks about circumcising our hearts …judging ourselves before we judge another…to clean our own house before we see the dust of another.  Funny… how we tend to do this backward…we get all puffed up about some issue and then God says…what about you!  Like King David in Samuel 12:1-7….where he had just sent Uriah to the battlefront…so he would be killed…and he could raise the baby he and Bathsheba had made in sin that night!  Nathan was sent by God to tell him a story… about a poor farmer…who had been treated just the way David had treated Uriah.

David didn’t get it with Nathan’s story…he had to be told about his sin…Nathan had to tell David that his story was about him! But thank God…David immediately saw his sin…repented…and reconnected his heart to God.  The consequences of his sin were great…he lost the son they had conceived in sin.  But God rewarded his circumcised heart…a heart that continues to seek God and examine his life for new sins that might interfere with his ability to love God to the fullest.

Father …thank you for Paul and his tough words of ‘tough love.’  Help me father to always SAY and DO the same thing.  Forgive me for being just the hypocrite that Paul talks about…and thank you so much for continuing to send me Nathan’s to reveal these hidden sins so I can ask you to remove them from my heart and life.  Circumcise my heart anew today…and prepare me for the next lesson in ‘how to love others correctly’…so I will see it instantly….and ask you to remove it.  Father…help me to work through the consequences of these many sins with your love and guidance. Help me to forgive myself and put these sins in the past…so you can use the lesson I learned to help others.  Amen!