1. Deuteronomy 30:6: the circumcision that really matters
The Lord gave to the Old Testament people of God the rite of circumcision of the flesh as “a sign of the covenant” between the Lord and Israel (Genesis 17:11). However, God also made it clear that this outward act of cutting the flesh of males was not the kind of circumcision that really matters. The deeper circumcision that counts most is not physical but spiritual; the deeper circumcision that matters most is of the heart and not of the body. And whereas a father was to circumcise the flesh of his newborn son, only God can circumcise the human heart. This is precisely what the Lord promised to do for his people in Deuteronomy 30:6: “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”
Let us marvel and rejoice in the reality that as Christians, God has circumcised our hearts! Let us marvel and rejoice that even as God commands us to love him with all our hearts (Deuteronomy 6:5), so he in his wonderful grace gives us the ability to do so, by circumcising our hearts! This circumcision of the heart is a work of the Lord’s grace that makes us part of the people of God, for “circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter” (Romans 2:28-29).
But what exactly does it mean that God has circumcised the hearts of Christians? I think we find the answer to that question in the prophecy of Ezekiel 36:26-27, where the Lord foresees the day when he would take out the hearts of stone of his people and replace them with hearts of flesh. “And I will put my Spirit in you,” the Lord adds, in a promise that we know God fulfilled in believers beginning with the Day of Pentecost. In other words, just as physical circumcision of the body involves a cutting open of the skin, so the spiritual circumcision of the heart involves God’s cutting open of the heart, in order to put the Holy Spirit into the hearts of believers. It should astound us that God himself, in the Person of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9), has come to live spiritually in us through the circumcision of the heart! What a gracious and loving and mighty and glorious God we serve!
2. Colossians 3:22-24: the case of the rotten boss
I realize Colossians 3:22-24 deals on its face with slaves and masters, but for many reasons I believe we can draw principles from it for application to the Christian’s life in the workplace. I have in mind in particular those of you who work for bosses like the pointy-haired boss in the comic strip Dilbert. The pointy-haired boss in Dilbert is a fool who constantly frustrates the employees by managing and leading poorly. The pointy-haired boss really only cares about himself and his advancement up the corporate ladder, and so he sees the people who work under him only as a means to the ends he desires for himself. What if the pointy-haired boss is your boss? How can you as a Christian glorify God in circumstances under which you spend most of your day frustrated, because you have a fool for a boss? Consider two principles from Colossians 3:22-24. First, your ultimate boss is not the pointy-haired manager or any other human being; your ultimate boss is always the Lord. God loves you infinitely, and his plan for your life, including your work life, is infinitely wise. That is not to say that God in his mercy might not move you to a new position under a far better boss. But as long as you are working under the pointy-haired manager, work hard and do your best. God is a hard worker who always does his best too (Genesis 1:31), and when we work that way, acknowledging the Lord as our ultimate boss, not only does God get great glory, but we find peace, even if we are working for a human boss who is a fool. When God gets glory, joy and peace for us always follow.
Then second, understand from Colossians 3:22-24 that even if your company does not reward you adequately for your good and faithful work, you have an eternal reward that the Lord is storing up for you in heaven. Again, that truth does not mean that the Lord is forbidding you from looking for another job where you might be better paid. What it does mean as that as long as the Lord keeps you where you are, your ultimate reward does not come from your next raise or promotion but from knowing that God has reserved in heaven a great spiritual reward for those who work by his grace and for his glory.
3. Jeremiah 23:29: God’s word a hammer
Jeremiah 23:9-40 contains a section of prophecy in which the Lord condemns the false prophets living in the day of Jeremiah. In v. 29 God says the following about the true word that he speaks through men who are his genuine prophets, men like Jeremiah: “’Is not my word like fire?’ declares the Lord, ‘and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?’” In the context, this statement by God means that his word is like a hammer in that it means judgment for the false prophets in Judah. The Lord is going to fulfill his word against those false prophets by bringing down the hammer of his judgment against those who speak from their own imaginations, to the great detriment of the people, rather than from the Lord.
As I read Jeremiah 23:29, however, I also wonder if in the lives of Christians, the word of God as a hammer might not be a positive metaphor? For example, I can use a hammer for a negative purpose like destroying a clay pot in anger, or I can use a hammer for a positive purpose, like helping my son to build a pine car for the Awana Grand Prix this coming Sunday evening. In the same way, I think, God’s word was destructive to the false prophets, but it is like a hammer in the souls of Christians in that God uses the Bible to build something very good—Christ-likeness—in our hearts. The Lord also uses the hammer of his word to “knock away” the sin that weighs us down and keeps us from running the spiritual race he has set before us (Hebrews 12:1-2). Let us therefore rejoice in the Lord for great gift his word is to us, and knowing that Scripture is a good hammer in our souls, let us take up God’s word and read and meditate on it.
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