Who's Who

DEVOTION
ROMANS
WHO’S WHO
Rom 2:17-29

17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; 18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."
25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26 If those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.
This is certainly a lot of verses for a simple devotion, but as usual Paul uses a lot of words to make the point. Who is who, is ultimately the question here which I must ask of me. Am I a man who is circumcised outwardly or inwardly? Is my relationship with God based on my obedience outwardly to the law, in my case, the do’s and don’ts of Christianity or is it based upon the condition of my heart?
Is my relationship with God based on the amount of good works or on faith? What appears here is that simple. If I act like a Christian simply on the outside men will surely praise me for being such a “good Christian” but of what value is that if my heart is not broken before God? Do I relate to these words of Paul?
Gal 1:11

10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
NIV
I believe in my heart I do, as times I may offend my fellow believers by saying things which contradict traditional thinking, thinking which may or may not be as God would have us think. But I know in my heart I must speak what God has laid on my heart, to please him, rather than attempting to please the thinking of men. It is God who must be pleased and this matter of the heart is at the center of it all.
To admit to him that I have no power of my own against sin, to admit to him I have no power at all to do good, and my only hope for eternal life is him. That is who I am!