How Serious Are You About Jesus?

I don`t think we take Yahweh seriously. I don`t think we know who we are to him and I don`t think we know how to respond properly. If we did then we wouldn't act the way we act, speak the way we speak or be involved in the things are are entangled in. We look to Israel`s history and criticize them for their stupidity and yet we are doing the same thing. We are half-hearted in our love and service to Jesus. We have no discipline to speak of and we treat the Lord of lords as if he is our "get out of jail free" card. Our lives are filled with idols, distractions and emotions have over run our devotion.

Pretty harsh? Not as harsh as the justice of Yahweh.

The Law of Moses was a simple thing; love and be devoted to Yahweh. Everything flowed from that just as it does today. In explaining the essentials of this Law to Israel Moses said:

Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it. The Lord delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 10:14-15)

So the Creator of all things looked upon a man and loved him, setting him apart, and grew a nation from him. He delighted in them. What a privileged place to be. What he asked for in return is that same love and devotion:

Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. (v. 16)

So often we think that the circumcised heart is a New Testament thing but the circumcision of the flesh was only a symbol of what really matter: the changed heart that said to Yahweh, I belong to you and am devoted to you, to obey you and serve you out of my love for you.

There should be no one sitting in our churches feeling obliged to be there. No one can ever be coerced or manipulated into faith. No one can ever hold a gun to someone's head and say love Jesus. Love is a voluntary thing; a thing of devotion and dedication, of wanting to please the other person. There has to be a circumcision of the heart, when we declare our love and devotion because of our response to the Father's great love for us. And this love changes us.

By this circumcision we recognize that we belong to him, that we are his people and his people's great desire is to obey him. His commands are not a burden but a delight. We cut out of our life anything that does not add to the relationship, anything that interferes and we guard it with a jealousy because he is our first love. We check ourselves often to insure that no idols have crept in, that we haven't set up any high places, and if we discover we have, we destroy them immediately. We belong to Yahweh, God of gods, and Lord of lords, and our love for him have us fastened fast to him. Nothing can move us our pursued us to turn away.

Now understand that everything in this world works against that love and there is an army out to destroy it in you. But they can't touch you. The only one who can disturb that relationship is you and your negligence. Consider your life, your goals, desires, activities, words, actions. Do they reflect those of a people who have circumcised their hearts in great love for Jesus, the Father and the Spirit? I don't think we take Yahweh seriously.

Someone Is Lying To You

You are being lied to and the liar is yourself. You have convinced yourself to stay in a weakened condition when in actual fact you are more than a conqueror. You are a giant on this earth. You are a mighty warrior. But you lie to yourself and keep yourself in a small and insignificant role in this world. You allow yourself to be defeated day after day and you fight a fight that wearies you.

The lie is a simple one. You tell yourself that you are powerless against sin. You don't say it in words but you say it in action. You are too easily defeated by temptation because you do not know Jesus and what he has done for you. Certainly you know about Jesus. You hear about him all the time. You read about him. You even sing about him but if you really knew him temptation would have no power over you because sin has no power over you.

Here is the fact about what Jesus has done to defeat the power of sin over you:

In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ ... (Colossians 2:11)

If you know what circumcision is you know that it is a cutting away of part of the body so it is no longer part of the body. It was a mark of belonging to God. Now a greater circumcision exists; one that is of greater value. It is a cutting away of our sinful nature, removing it so that it no longer is part of us. This means that sin has no power over us because it is no longer part of us and this is a mark of belonging to God. This is significant because it means we are no longer powerless against sin.

You need to see that action in your mind, actually picture the cutting away of your sin nature. It is a fact that you need to act on each day. Jesus said it now you have to walk in it. Take him at his word. He promised and like every other promise we receive it and cause our actions to reflect that we have received it. We say no to sin.

Sin is now a choice whereas once we had no choice. If you sin now you do so willingly, consciously, with purpose. If any sin has rule over us, which are those things we can't seem to stop doing, it is because we have given it power over us. Sin is what destroys us, keeps us weak. Praise Jesus for the grace ushered into our lives but sin will rob us of our place and purpose, not allowing us to take our rightful place in God's plans. Instead of a mighty warrior we are those who grovel on the street corner, looking for scraps of grace. This is not how it is meant to be.

It is time to mature in this thing. It is time to put it to bed. We have not been circumcised by some mere symbolic act of man, but by Jesus Christ, Son of God, ruler of all things. He is not weak in what he does. When he said he has done it then it is done. Don't make him out to be a liar. Do not rob him of his glory. Live your life as a hero of the faith. Walk this planet as a giant. Take your place as a mighty warrior in the King's army. Have nothing to do with sin no matter the cost and you will discover the power of God increase in and through you. Fight on my friend in the strength of our King; fight on!