Obedient Hearts
Opening Prayer
Jesus, give me a heart that longs to obey You. Teach me to love Your ways above my own.
Read Exodus 12:43–51
43 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover meal:
“No foreigner may eat it. 44 Any slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised him, 45 but a temporary resident or a hired worker may not eat it.
46 “It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. 47 The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.
48 “A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat it. 49 The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you.”
50 All the Israelites did just what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Jesus said that love and obedience go together (John 14:15). What motivated the Israelites’ obedience?Passover was an inclusive community meal; even foreigners could join in, but they too needed their menfolk to be circumcised (48). There were no exceptions. The Israelites were learning to be obedient. Just as Passover would help them to remember this turning point in their history, circumcision marked them out with a lifelong reminder that they were God’s people.
Notice a small detail: the bones of the Passover lamb were not to be broken (46), just as Jesus’ bones were not broken when he was crucified (John 19:33). Jesus became for us the Passover lamb. We are invited to be part of his family—not circumcised in the old way, but with lives marked by the Holy Spirit. We can expect to be prompted and guided by God’s Holy Spirit and to grow the fruit of his Spirit (Gal. 5:22,23). Because we have been accepted by God, we live differently.
Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of the Old Testament laws and began a new covenant of
grace. He is all we need for life with God.
Apply
Have you allowed God to cut away the “works of the flesh” in your life? Take time to meditate on what God may want to do in you.
Closing prayer
Read Colossians 2:9–15 and thank God for fulfilling the requirements of the old covenant through Jesus’ death on the cross.
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