The Circumcision Of The Heart - Part 1

There is no middle ground.

Every part of our lives, not some only, must either be a sacrifice to God, or to ourselves.

Even giving all our lives to God will profit us nothing.

Unless we give our hearts, all our hearts to Him, it is as if we had done nothing.

“The circumcision of the heart… is that habitual disposition of soul which, in the sacred writings is termed ‘holiness’; and which directly implies, the being cleansed from sin ‘from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit’; and, by consequence the being endued with those virtues which were in Christ Jesus the being so ‘renewed in the image of our mind’, as to be ‘perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect’.”

John Wesley

The simplicity of intention and purity of affection are the wings of the soul.

To give everything we speak or do and let Him to rule our tempers is how we can ascend to the mount of God.

It is absolutely impossible to be half a Christian.

Where to find the only standard of truth?

And the only model of pure religion?

“… I began not only to read, but to study, the Bible, as the one, the only standard of truth, and the only model of pure religion.”

John Wesley

It is necessary to have the mind of which is in Christ.

And to walk as Christ also walked.

And not only in many or in most respects, but in all things.

The Christianity is a uniform following of Christ, and entire inward and outward conformity to our Master.

How to find the way of least disconformity to our grand Exemplar?

“’Love is the fulfilling of the law, the end of the commandment’. It is not only ‘the first and great’ command, but all the commandments in one. ‘Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise’, they are all comprised in this one word, love.

In this is perfection, and glory and happiness: The royal law of heaven and earth is this, ‘Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength’. The one perfect good shall be your one ultimate end. One thing ye shall desire for its own sake, -- the fruition of Him who is all in all.

 One happiness shall ye propose to your souls, even an union with Him that made them, the having ‘fellowship with the Father and the Son’, the being ‘joined to the Lord in one spirit’. One design ye are to pursue to the end of time, – the enjoyment of God in time and in eternity. Desire other things so far as they tend to this; love the creature, as it leads to the Creator. But in every step you take, be this glorious point that terminates the view.

Let every affection, and thought and word, and action, be subordinate to this. Whatever ye desire or fear, whatever ye seek or shun, whatever ye think or speak, or do, be it in order to your happiness in God, the sole end, as well as source, of your being.”

John Wesley

To be continued... 

This post is part of the Thursday Devotionals series.