January 31, 2011
McMinnville, Oregon
A
person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely
outward and physical. 29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly;
and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the
written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God. Romans
2:28-29
Circumcise
your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. Deuteronomy
10:16
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. Deuteronomy
30:6
The
other day I was in the grocery store when a woman smiled and asked, “Are you
Pastor Jim from the Church on the Hill?” After affirming that I was she
introduced me to her son, who promptly pulled up his shirt to expose the scar
that ran from his upper chest to his stomach.
“I had
heart surgery! Do you have any scars?”
Not to
be outdone by a five year old I showed him my twelve-inch scar from knee
surgery, three-inch scar where a birth mark was removed, two-inch scar where I
cut my hand on a tin can as well as the smaller ones such as the stitches in my
thumb from a mountain bike accident, under my chin, and the one where a high
school sweet heart broke my heart!
But
none of my scars could compete with the one running down his chest.
Scars
have three things in common. A scar is a reminder of healing. A scar was once
an open wound cleansed by blood. Lastly, each scar represents a moment of pain
in a life, for some we could add an element of stupidity as well!
Scars
represent pain, purification, healing.
Radically
changing focus, every woman is equipped with a Hymen around the vagina that
serves no biological purpose. It has no use, or does it? When the Hymen is
broken upon the first sexual intercourse encounter it produces blood.
Physically insignificant, the Hymen is a physical sign of a spiritual covenant (Jeremiah 34:18) between a man and a
woman.
Circumcision
was also a physical sign of a spiritual covenant between God and man. This
“blood covenant” however became obsolete through the blood of Jesus that cleanses
our hearts by faith (Acts 15:9).
Heart
circumcision, however, does not come easy. It often results form some crisis or
catastrophic event in a life. The heart that turns to Christ is the heart made
whole subsequent to its being broken. God slices through a heart calloused by
sin with the cutting edge of pain.
Pain,
purification, and healing.
The
bleeding heart is made whole when a man surrenders his heart to the Master.
