Jeremiah 4:3,4
This is what the LORD says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done— burn with no one to quench it.”
God will give us a new heart. He promises that, but it’s our job to cut out the things that we can and honor Him with our whole heart and our entire lives. When I think of circumcision, it is a cutting away of something not needed. When it is removed, it is easier to clean and care for. I see that physical truth displayed here spiritually. God has given us new hearts, but we have to cut out the junk we’re putting into them. We can’t clean our own hearts or lives up without Him, but we can do our part. Let me explain.
God gives us a new heart with new desires. He took me and broke the chains of sexual immorality off, but I have a part to play in all this too. I have to circumcise, if you will, the things in my life that don’t belong. He cleaned my heart up, but it’s my responsibility not to keep putting more junk in there. The Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit are our ultimate weapons in this battle! We have to read, believe, and follow everything that the Bible says and how He directs us!
If the Word of God says it’s wrong, then it’s wrong, and it has to go, regardless of society or feelings. We can’t waiver on the truth or rely on our own definition of right and wrong but trust fully in the Lord and cut out what He says has to go! He isn’t telling us to cut that stuff out because He doesn’t want us to have fun but rather because He knows what all those sins bring, death, hurt, pain, loss, separation from both Him and those we love. We don’t circumcise a baby to punish the baby but do it for its own good and cleanliness. I feel like God’s saying the same thing. We just miss it sometimes. God is merciful, loving, and just!
Jeremiah 4:14 - Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts?
Colossians 3:8-12 - But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
God bless! I love you all! Glory, Honor, and Praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our Risen King, and the Holy Spirit!
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