Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law.”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, May 18, 2021
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
In for a penny, in for a pound. Some early Jewish Christians insisted that anyone becoming a Christian had to be circumcised. But Paul disagreed. Being circumcised requires complete acceptance of the entire Jewish law. To think otherwise is to see circumcision as a kind of token, an action undertaken without any understanding of what it really means. Since Paul was insistent that Jesus freed us from the law, requiring Gentiles to adopt it as a means to being accepted as Christians made zero sense.
I wonder how many of us modern Christians take token actions without any understanding of what they really mean. Do we wear cross jewelry without reflecting on the significance of the cross? Do we celebrate Christmas without digging into what it meant for God to become human? Do we go to church every Sunday and forget to carry our faith into the rest of the week? Maybe something worth looking at.
Am I “all in” when it comes to my faith?
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