Circumcision

 "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh—
Jeremiah 9:25 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/jer.9.25.ESV

Circumcision doesn't make the circumcised any better than anyone else. Similarly, baptism doesn't make the baptised any better than anyone else. God isn't so much interested in our flesh as in our spirits.

It's no good to have circumcised flesh, when God wants us to have circumcised hearts! Does this make God like the Merchant of Venice, demanding a pound of flesh? No, He wants our hearts and souls, not our physical bodies as such.

We need to cut away from our hearts any attachment to anything other than God. By all means we can love our families and friends, but we aren't to idolise them. God demands to be our number one.

 
Even water baptism isn't enough. It's just a picture of what God needs to do in our souls and spirits, to baptise us in the Holy Spirit. We need to be, in other words, born again of the Holy Spirit.

'God our Lord, please circumcised our hearts and baptise us in the Holy Spirit. May we not allow anything on earth to pollute our souls and spirits. In Christ's name, amen'

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