In Joshua chapter 5, the Israelites had already crossed over the River Jordan on dry ground. Next, they were going to celebrate the Passover but in order to do so they had to be circumcised.
Circumcision showed that Jews were set apart from others; they were servants of God.
Now a true believer is one whose heart is right with God and not merely obeying the letter of the law. It is, rather, a change of heart produced by the Spirit. A person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people. -Romans 2:29
There’s a reason Paul referred to this circumcision. In Joshua 5, the writer talks about the healing afterwards. This was a painful experience for the individuals involved because they didn’t have any anesthetics. It involves cutting away part of your body your life being.
Circumcision of the heart is also painful. God cuts away things that you’ve been clinging to, maybe all your life, and that can be painful. Circumcision of the heart is important, though, because with the cutting away of the old, there’s room for new love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. Those are all better than what we cling to.
My opinion of the things I cling to doesn’t matter. It’s what God’s word and His voice say to me that matter. I was not overjoyed to do a holy purge because it meant throwing away some stuff – some of it new. I was talking to a friend in California about this. He said that when he came to follow the Lord closely, the Lord had directed him to do a similar thing and he got rid of a lot of stuff. I was talking to another friend who also did the same thing when she started following the Lord.
Your heart is a precious thing and God is a jealous God. He doesn’t want anything to interfere with Him being the center of your life. Have you circumcised your heart? Have you put everything on the altar and asked God to take away anything that doesn’t belong in your life? Do you have hatred for any group of people? We are all brothers whether Jew or Gentile, Democrat or Republican, Capitalist or Communist, straight or not; we are called to love.
Following Jesus 