ASLC Devotions - Thursday

Romans 2:29 Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart—it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God.

A little circumcision with your morning email? 

Of course, for us this has nothing to do with circumcision. But the concept still applies, I think. Because we still experience things like hypocrisy, things like people who live a life that's different from what they say about themselves. We still know the challenge of lining up our own life with our best choices. We still know the challenge of inward change to go along with the outward changes that sometimes come more easily.

Paul writes that God is more concerned with what's going on in the heart than with what's going on outside. Not that there is no concern with what's going on outside - it matters: but if it's done for the wrong motivation, with the wrong intent, with false pretenses, then God's not impressed. The challenge in all this is that it's hard to see someone else's motives - all we can see are their actions, so we can't judge the inside.

Come to think of it: perhaps that's the point: you can't judge someone else's motives, so all you can do is worry about your own.

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

Wear red on Sunday to celebrate Reformation Sunday. We will have worship at 8:30 and 11 (with Affirmation of Baptism/Confirmation at 11).