ESOCS Devotional 1 January 2021
TEXT: GENESIS 17:1-13
MEMORY VERSE: “This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised … He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.” Genesis 17:10-13 NKJV
With a thankful heart, we appreciate and glorify God globally for His kind mercies in which He has given us a new lease of life and existence on earth this New Year 2021. He has been more than gracious towards us; and now, a new era begins in our life today through His profound grace. However, we have an important question we must answer: What are we going to do with our life this year and beyond?
Beloved, it is a time for sober reflection on the kind of life we lived in the year 2020, and even before it. Did we please God with our lifestyle? Did we reflect Christ in our thoughts, words, and actions? Did we live as holy citizens of the kingdom of God or as ungodly people of the world? How well did we live a sanctified life? How much did we wrestle with particular sins and won? How zealous and committed were we to pursing a life of holiness and righteousness? Did we earnestly contend for the Christian faith (Jude 3), and refuse to allow sin and Satan to have dominion over us (Rom. 6:14)? Can we confidently say that we walked in the ways of God diligently and today, we have acquired in us the attributes of Christ, and therefore, we are like Him? Have we completely thrown away the nature and character of Adam the “old man” (Eph. 4:22; Rom. 6:6; Col. 3:9) and moulded ourselves into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ our Lord? (Rom. 8:29; 1 Tim. 6:11)
When God began a new time in the life of Abraham, He gave him a covenant of circumcision in the flesh (the foreskin), which was physical. This was symbolic of the circumcision that was to take place in the heart, in the future among Christians, and which is spiritual: the circumcision of the heart. Circumcision is simply cutting away an unwanted part of the body. Similarly, circumcision of the heart is cutting away all sins and resemblances of it from the heart. We would have a new heart that is pure and devoid of evil, sin, and iniquity: the heart of Christ. The Bible says, “So circumcise the foreskin of your [minds and] hearts; be no longer stubborn and hardened” (Deut. 10:16 AMP). Jeremiah 4:4 makes an important call: “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts” (Jer. 4:4 NKJV).
The Bible counsels us to take seriously the issue about the circumcision of the heart because that is what would determine whether we would walk with God faithfully throughout our lifetime; and be serious with our Christian race. Only those who circumcise their hearts would become true Christians (Rom. 2:28, 29; 1 Pet. 3:3-5). Let us do the needful, as we thank God today for a new era in our life.
Read yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
CHALLENGES
Deal with those sins that hinder you from living a sinless and perfect holy life.
PRAYER POINT
Lord God, help me in my struggle with sin so that I would become holy just as you are, in Jesus name.
FURTHER READING: Isaiah 2:10-22; Luke 2:21-40; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-28
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ESOCS Devotional 1 January 2021
