A Change Of Heart

September 18, 2017

A Change Of Heart

And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.

Romans 2:29c

Read: Romans 2:25-29

When God entered into a covenant with Abraham, God decreed circumcision as a sign of the covenant. The sign marked the individual as belonging to God’s people. In a similar way, wearing wedding bands marks the individual as being in the covenant of marriage. However, wearing a wedding band is meaningless if the person does not honor their wedding vows. In today’s passage, Paul made this same assertion concerning the Jews who believed the sign of the covenant was all they needed; they did not accept their responsibility to not only possess God’s law but also to obey it.

Paul makes two points which are vital to those of us seeking to make the life in Christ our way of life. First, Paul declares that a true member of the family of God is one whose heart is right with God. And secondly, the true sign of being a part of God’s people “is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit” (Romans 2:29b).

My Takeaway: The mark of circumcision and dietary laws were the signs that the Jews were God’s people. Today, the sign of Christianoi, the people of Christ, is justification by faith. Paul makes clear in today’s passage that justification, right standing with God, comes from allowing the Spirit to change our heart.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here's my heart, O take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

          Robert Robinson & Martin Madan

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

Copyright © 2017 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.