Thursday, April 23, 2009

Thurs. Devo - Circumcise our Hearts

Read Acts 15
Ministry is never problem-free because it requires working with people. Everyone has their pet doctrines that they feel they need to defend. Paul and Barnabas are in Antioch where some men from Judea come preaching you must be circumcised to be a believer. Isn't that something like you must clean the outside of the cup first? Anyway, that didn't fly with Paul and Barnabas so after arguing and getting nowhere they decided to go to Jerusalem and ask the head apostles. All along the way Paul and Barnabas stopped and encouraged the believers. When they arrived in Jerusalem they told the elders how the Gentiles were coming to know Jesus as their Messiah. This gave them great joy as they recognized this was fulfillment of prophesy. Paul and Barnabas told them of their main reason for coming and the apostles agreed that they didn't have to be circumcised but they did need to abstain from eathing food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, and from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood.
To me those seem like strange things to set up as rules so I decided to look closer. How do they relate to us now in 2009? They are all sins against the physical body. Both idolotry and immorality defile your spirit. Idolotry and immorality are ageless sins. Our society is wrapt with idols. Toby Mac sings about how they were once "stars" now we call them "idols". How blatant yet we still worship them. We have magazines just to find out how movie stars are living their lives and spending their money. They tell us their excercise routine, what make-up they wear, where they shop for their clothes while their personal lives are in immoral shambles. But we still worship them.
Unholy blood seems to be a common theme in these taboos. The power of the cross is in the blood Jesus shed for us. Blood carries life. Our DNA is found in our blood. There are certain blood types that can't be mixed together or you will die. Blood is very special to God. It is important that we don't consume the wrong blood. The devil is into blood also. Think of all the rage about werewolfs these days. That is unholy blood. We are not to consume ourselves on this blood. Wasn't the argument about circumcism? That has to do with blood and sex. But it has to do with the law not the spirit. It is our heart that needs to be circumcised.
So ultimately they all have to do with life. The life is in the blood and sex is the beginning of life. If the source is bad the fruit will be worse. If the source is God then the fruit will be eternal. Lord, may we be used to produce eternal life.

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