Day 13 or January 13.
Inside first, then outside next.
Our thought today is from Genesis 34 verse 15.
We will enter into an agreement with you on one condition only, that you become like us
by circumcising all your males.
First the big picture surrounding this verse.
Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob that we know by name, is raped by a Hivite prince
called Shechem, and her brothers wreak havoc on his family.
The thought that these uncircumcised heathen could ever be part of their good kosher family
fills them with disgust and rage as they take their drastic revenge.
Meanwhile, Jacob is renamed Israel, to reflect his personality more accurately, as a wrestler
with God.
On the way to Bethlehem, Jacob's favorite wife gives birth to a second son, Benjamin,
and sadly dies after the birth.
She is buried on the outskirts of Bethlehem, and there is still a commemorative memorial
in her honor on the road into Bethlehem today.
Esau and Jacob have now been reconciled, but their descendants, the Edomites and the Israelites,
never forgive each other.
Now our action step for today.
The family of Shechem were told they could only be acceptable if they were circumcised.
This was a physical sign of a covenant about which they were probably totally ignorant.
Sometimes we make similar mistakes by urging friends to be baptized or confirmed or become
church members before the transaction that these rights proclaim has taken place in the
heart of an individual.
I remember being told that it was about time I took a particular step in my local church
now that I was sixteen.
It was years later that I realized my action actually had nothing to do with age, but was
directly linked to heart change.
We need constantly to remind ourselves that God looks on the inside and not on the outside.
We may be fooling others by doing the right thing, but please be sure that you are believing
the right thing and doing what God wants.
Time to please Him, not the crowds around you.