Joel M Bradshaw

16Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.

So you don’t have to have a biology degree to know that the heart doesn’t have that anatomy. God was using a real ceremony that spoke of being obedient and set apart for him and making it a metaphor for the inner person. And God applied that metaphor to the attitude of stubbornness. So what describes the stubborn heart?

I put to you this morning that the stubborn heart INSISTS on doing some things and the stubborn heart REFUSES do to other things. I have two little dogs now. Many of you read the blog post from last week when one of those dogs, darted out of the house and was lost for some time that morning. It was not a fun time in our household! My wife and I see the look in that dog’s eyes every time the door is opened. It doesn’t matter how happy she is or how good she has it. She wants to run! When I take her outside to go potty, there’s that initial urge to bolt. I can feel it holding the leash. Then she settles down and does her business and calmly journeys with me back inside. That’s our Betty.

The other dog refuses to go potty when I take them out together. She meanders, she points, she gets distracted. Betty will go potty like and Tootsie will just do anything else. She refuses to listen. So I have learned to take them out individually. When I do this, they both go potty just fine. So Betty seems to illustrate one side of stubbornness and Tootsie the other.

What is it that you stubbornly INSIST on doing? Some people I journey with insist on their way. They are right and the other people in their lives are wrong. Their spouse is the only one in the marriage that needs to truly change. Their attitudes are seen as warranted and necessary. If you insist on doing something sinful and self-justify to excuse it, then you have made an idol out of yourself. The things you insist to do should have a Biblical basis. Like insisting on trusting God. We call that faith.

What is it that you REFUSE to do? A common one is maintaining discipline in their lives. Another is forgiveness. Some forgive only if the other confesses their wrongs and until then feel justified in their selfish bitterness. Others forgive by canceling the debt, but only the principal. They leave the interest accruing on that account. Or they put out the fire, but leave the embers glowing. Just for the next slight to blow the flame back into existence. Others forgive like a mirror. They refuse to fully forgive someone, but instead base their forgiveness upon their own reflection, their own stories. ‘I wouldn’t expect to be forgiven if I did what they did. I don’t have to forgive them now.’ Instead forgive like a window. Don’t look at yourself as the standard, but Jesus. Look through that window and see someone who needs grace, not stubbornness.

The stubborn heart insists and refuses. It is to be circumcised and made holy to God. God saw Israel’s stubbornness and said, “NO LONGER.” How about you?–JMB