Sometimes my wife gets quite upset when I forget to bring what she asked for from the shops. Many are the times I’ve been sent to get bread only to return with everything but bread. that makes her so mad. Put a knot in your tie (I never wear one!) or in your ear (not possible!). Then I get back in the car without saying a word and go all the way back, trying hard not to forget the bread this time.

I see some people put their watch on the other arm to remind them of something. It seems to me as if the circumcision was such a knot-in-the-tie kind of reminder. Because of his circumcision, a man would have been reminded of the promise of Yahweh, our God, a few times a day, when he went to the toilet.

After Jesus’ death on the cross the physical circumcision was no longer necessary. The sin that used to be between us and God is no longer in the picture when God looks at us.

A friend of mine struggles to understand this. Whenever things get a bit difficult, he says: “Well, it’s because I’ve done so many bad things in my life that it’s going so badly with me.” After I’ve reminded him a few times of the meaning of Christ’s death on the cross, I seriously tried to bring it home to him: “This can’t go on! When you say things like that, it means that Christ’s death served no purpose.” I might have been a bit harsh, but later on he started to understand.

Paul saw that the people in Colossae also struggled with the idea that sin’s hold them had been broken. Therefore, he used the image of circumcision that they knew so well. ¹²It’s not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. It cannot be put back. It’s gone forever, goodbye! No, you’re already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin.

Man’s sinful nature has been taken away. When Christ has taken away your sin, it cannot be held against you ever again. Just like with circumcision, it cannot be put back.

Why can’t we leave our bags of sin with Christ on the cross? Why do we allow sin to keep hold of us?

Why don’t you make time to sit and talk to God about all the sin that you still drag with you? Confess it to God. Take them out one by one and put them before Him. Yes, even the big ones. Take them all out, even if it hurts.

Know now that God has forgiven you and do not think about those mistakes anymore. They are gone. In God’s eyes, they no longer exist.

Yes, it feels too easy and maybe you want to do something to earn the forgiveness. Maybe you think a good deed or a few hundred rand in the offering plate will do it. No, my friend, it’s not necessary, because all your sin has been paid for already.

What you must do, is to go out and live like that. Live like a saved being. Live like someone who no longer bears a burden. Live like someone who no longer is a slave to sin, because Jesus’ death on the cross has made you a new person. Do not allow sin to keep hold of you any longer.

Scripture

Colossians 2:9-12

https://bible.com/97/col.2:9-12.msg

Reflection

Are you still dragging a few sins along with you?

Write them down.

Do you realise that Jesus’ death on the cross has cut them off forever?

Prayer

Father, thank you for saving us from a sinful existence through Jesus’ death on the cross. Thank you that we can now live a life of victory over sin and that sin can longer have a hold over us. Please help us to break with sin, because Jesus’ blood has freed us. Amen.