Circumcision of the Heart

What happens when Christ enters our lives?   We experience a circumcision of the heart.    In the Old testament we see that the Jewish people performed a sacred act of the surgical removal of the foreskin.  This became an outward sign of their obedience and their relationship to God in spiritual purification. Circumcision was a sign that one was a citizen of the Nation of Israel and that they had certain rights under the covenant.   The circumcision of the flesh could not create a saving relationship with God.  The circumcision of the heart through repentance leads to salvation. 

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.   For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of Lords, the Great, the Mighty, and the terrible God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.  He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.  Deut 10:16-18

We cannot expect to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling if we are willfully being stubborn and resisting the Lord in certain areas of our heart.   Isn't it funny how we can allow Jesus to be Lord in one area of our hearts and not in another area?   He desires that we serve Him with our whole hearts and our willful obedience to His Word is what He requires.  

Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.  Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it because of the evil of your doings.  Jeremiah 4:3-4

And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.  Deut 30:6

He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal. 
Rom 2:29

We are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus,and do not put confidence in the flesh. Phil 3:3

In Him (Jesus) you were also circumcised with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of the Messiah.  Having been buried with Him in baptism, you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. Col 2:11-12