When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. Colossians2:13
Have you got an uncouth, rebellious and heathen inner-being?
When Jews talked about the gentiles (non-Jews) as "uncircumcised" they meant it in the derogatory sense of an uncivilised heathen. (Similarly, the Greeks had a word for a non-greek: "Barbaroi" - go figure!)
Paul's phrase, "the uncircumcision of your sinful nature," is his way of talking about our brokenness - our tendency to do evil even when we want to be good. (Our "barbarian" spirits...)
The problem as far as our self-images go, is that we are flawed deep within. Our faults are not only skin-deep. At the very core of our being, we are selfish, self-serving, ambitious and arrogant and even our best deeds are tainted with these motives.
No matter what pretences we put up, there is no escaping the lack of peace that lurks at the core of our beings: Instinctively we know that we are not right with God.
Christ sets us free from failure.
He cancels the written code, the law, that reveals our failures and lists our punishments. He cancels it at great cost - paying it in full through His death on the cross.
Jesus says on John 8:36
"If the Son sets you free - you will be free indeed!"
Next time you feel that numbing sense of failure, you can look in the mirror and say "I may have done something stupid and I may have to live through the practical consequences of my failures, but I am free (and much-loved!) because Christ paid a great price to cancel my sin-debts."
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
