It’s Time For Drastic Cuts

It’s Time For Drastic Cuts

“At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. ‘Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,’ she said. So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said ‘bridegroom of blood,’ referring to circumcision.)” Exodus 4:24-26 NIV

The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians states that the intention behind his words, and therefore his actions, was not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts (1 Thessalonians 2:4). It’s impossible to please everybody, so as a Christian we can simplify our lives by making it our sole objective to please our Heavenly Father. This is a decision of the will we all must make of our own volition. To decide is to literally “cut off” all other options, opportunities, and possibilities.

The elected officials of this nation are charged to be responsible and accountable in handling this nation’s resources. Sometimes drastic cuts are necessary. We make changes to adjust to the current climate, and also in order to be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities that are yet to come.

Moses was called as the mediator (go-between) of the covenant between God and his children. The benefits of the covenant are unmatched: health, deliverance, prosperity, security, peace, and the abiding Presence of Almighty God. These benefits came upon condition. “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. Do what is right and good in the LORD’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors, thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said” (Deuteronomy 6:5, 17-19). God asked for, and deserves, exclusive devotion.

The sign of the Old Testament covenant was for males to be circumcised. Either be circumcised, or be cut off from the benefits of belonging to the covenant (Genesis 17:14). New Testament circumcision is of the heart by faith.

A gardener must prune diseased, damaged, dead, non-productive, structurally unsound, or otherwise unnecessary parts of a plant in order to increase the yield or quality of the flowers or fruit. May we all take inventory of our lives and cut off every weight and the sin that hinders our progress (Hebrews 12:1), and cultivate a closer and deeper relationship with God!