“For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God” (1 Corinthians 7:19 ESV).
“Gross, Sarah, you are starting off a blog entry with THAT verse?” – said everyone who dared read my blog…
Yes, I know, gross. But, it is about much more than circumcision or uncircumcision.
Very similar to my last post, God is teaching me a lot from this chunk of the chapter. Teaching me that the condition of my heart is so much more important that any actions I do (though actions are important, too).
This verse states just that….again.
It is neither circumcision or uncircumcision. It is neither singleness or marriage. It is neither working at a church or a mortgage company. It is neither sitting down in the worship service or standing with hands raised. It is neither having children or having none.
That idea is changing the text a little bit because “circumcision and uncircumcision” are religious acts that separated the jews and gentiles. But, I believe the sentiment of the verse is still there. God does not care about what hat (Hat’s: single, married, with children, without children, working, stay at home mom, full-time ministry, etc) you are wearing (in the grand scheme of things), but he cares about your holiness and your relationship with him.
Here’s the trick…depending on what hat you are wearing, he will use that to make you more holy, if you let him.
James 1:16-18 ESV – “Do not be deceived, my brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”
In life, we use status to define us:
I’m in a relationship with so-and-so. I am a mom to so-and-so. I am single. I am an extrovert. I am an introvert. I raise my hands and close my eyes when I sing songs in church. I sit down and don’t sing in church. I work at a mortgage company. I work at a church. I work for a non-profit. I make 100K+ a year. I make 15K a year. I am in college and work part-time. I work full-time. I am a gifted speaker. I am shy and only like talking one-on-one. I am a proficient reader and writer. I am illiterate.
All too often, we use the gifts that God has given us to define us. We boast in the fact that we have been a christian for 15 years. Or that we work at a church. Or that we are “discipling” 5 girls (or boys if you are reading this and are a man).
We boast in the wrong things if that is what we are boasting in.
That is like seeing a picture that was gifted to you by the artist and claiming that you painted it.
WHOA.
Say again? By boasting in the gifts God has given you and called you to, you’re saying that I am claiming to have painted a masterpiece that was created by someone else, the very person who created that masterpiece.
Yes, that is what I am saying.
So how did I get from talking about circumcision to claiming you painted something you didn’t?
Exactly this….Jews who became Christians claimed circumcision as something that made them superior to the gentiles who became Christians, but it didn’t. With Jesus’ coming and death and resurrection, we are all on the same playing field now.
God has gifted us all, no matter what hat we are wearing, what ethnicity we are, where we are at in our journey with him. We cannot go about life claiming glory for things that God has gifted us.
Our spiritual maturity is dependent on our heart for God and following him, not on our status or the giftings God has given us. Those are simply those, gifts. We must, in whatever stage of life we are in, follow Christ. Until we do that, we are just fooling ourselves into thinking we are something we are not.
“Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and counted them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes from faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith – that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:8-11 ESV).
Join me in seeking Christ and his will for us through the Word as James 1:18 says and “only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him and to which God has called him” (1 Corinthians 7:17 ESV).
One of my favorite authors wrote a blog that inspired this here blog entry today along side of my reading in the word this week. Read it here and watch the short video that he produced alongside of the blog.
To Be Continued… 🙂
sarahecooley.com 