“Lord, you want me and my men to do what?” God explained His desire for His people to be set apart. “Are you sure this is the best way? People won’t even be able to tell what we’ve done!” God wanted a covenant in the flesh of a man’s hidden parts, and Abraham obeyed.
Today, God is after something even more personal. Physical circumcision has always pointed toward a more important operation. Jeremiah spoke the Word of the Lord, “Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among the thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts.” Paul points us to Christ, knowing the One with the pure heart is the One who knows what to cut away. “In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ…”
It has always been the strategy of the enemy to depict the men of God as weak and passionless. Who would call Abraham weak and passionless? His obedience did not make him less of a man… quite the opposite! We are to have this same type of faith that trusts a God who knows how to make a man more of a man and a woman more of a woman. “Pure in heart” does not equate with weakness. “You want me to do what? Yes, Lord, I will obey. You know what is best. Give me courage, Lord, to stand. Cut away anything that keeps me from being the man you have created me to be. Make me a true man, Jesus. Make me like You.”
When Jesus has His way in a man or a woman, courage springs forth. We know this because Jesus is the epitome of courage. “Father, are you sure you want me to do this? Is there no other way? Yes Lord, I will obey. You know what is best and I have come to do your will. Give me courage, Father, to carry this cross.”
“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” I Peter 2:21