Circumcision of the Heart

When gratitude for salvation fades, the world begins to look larger, and joy can no longer be held on to. Grumbling and strife within the church arise for the same reason: its work is no longer treated as God’s work, and people want to put themselves forward.

To believe in Christ is to give one’s life wholly to the Holy Spirit and obey him. Anyone who tries to do God’s work in their own strength, without such faith, grows proud, and that pride leads to the sin of judging and condemning a brother. And if someone comes through hardship because a brother interceded for them, yet becomes arrogant again, the one who prayed is blessed while the other falls under rebuke.

When God’s people walk humbly by the Spirit, God is glorified in the name of Christ through their faith. Only those wholly changed by a circumcision not of the flesh but of the heart can show the glory of God. To look to Jesus Christ alone while the world is in turmoil, and to stand unshaken in the truth: that is the message preached today.