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Day 13 or January 13.

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Inside first, then outside next.

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Our thought today is from Genesis 34 verse 15.

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We will enter into an agreement with you on one condition only, that you become like us

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by circumcising all your males.

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First the big picture surrounding this verse.

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Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob that we know by name, is raped by a Hivite prince

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called Shechem, and her brothers wreak havoc on his family.

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The thought that these uncircumcised heathen could ever be part of their good kosher family

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fills them with disgust and rage as they take their drastic revenge.

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Meanwhile, Jacob is renamed Israel, to reflect his personality more accurately, as a wrestler

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with God.

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On the way to Bethlehem, Jacob's favorite wife gives birth to a second son, Benjamin,

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and sadly dies after the birth.

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She is buried on the outskirts of Bethlehem, and there is still a commemorative memorial

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in her honor on the road into Bethlehem today.

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Esau and Jacob have now been reconciled, but their descendants, the Edomites and the Israelites,

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never forgive each other.

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Now our action step for today.

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The family of Shechem were told they could only be acceptable if they were circumcised.

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This was a physical sign of a covenant about which they were probably totally ignorant.

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Sometimes we make similar mistakes by urging friends to be baptized or confirmed or become

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church members before the transaction that these rights proclaim has taken place in the

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heart of an individual.

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I remember being told that it was about time I took a particular step in my local church

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now that I was sixteen.

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It was years later that I realized my action actually had nothing to do with age, but was

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directly linked to heart change.

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We need constantly to remind ourselves that God looks on the inside and not on the outside.

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We may be fooling others by doing the right thing, but please be sure that you are believing

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the right thing and doing what God wants.

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Time to please Him, not the crowds around you.