In Philippians 3:3, Paul talks about the real circumcision. Now read Romans 2:28-29. This is Paul's answer to the Judaizers, the "mutilators of the flesh" that Paul is referring to, who preach Jesus and adherence to the Jewish laws, something that Jesus redeemed.
Paul wants us, the real circumcision, to worship by the Spirit of God, to glory in Christ, and to put no confidence in the flesh.
- Read John 3:5-6. We can't put any confidence in the flesh because the flesh leads to death. We need to put confidence in the things of the Spirit.
Paul goes on to say that if were possible to have confidence in the flesh that he would be the one who could. The list that Paul rattles off is a list of "wow" factors in the Jewish culture. Paul is a stud. But the thing is in all of the things that Paul could have put confidence in he couldn't because he had encountered Jesus.
We have nothing to pump our own selves up about besides Christ. Our 4.0 GPA isn't something to put confidence in. In the eternal scope of things that doesn't matter. That doesn't mean do your best and go for the 4.0, it just means that our confidence can't be there. Another way to translate the word "confidence" here is trust. We can't trust our 4.0 to do anything for us. We can't trust our awesome car, our six pack, our money, our job to do anything. It is all Christ. We have no right to have pride in this because none of it can save us from our sin.
- What do you put your confidence or trust in apart from Christ?
- How does putting confidence in that take Christ out of the equation for getting the glory for your life?
- Pray that Christ would change your perspective about our "resumes" from something that we can put our confidence and identity in to something that we thank Christ for and glorify Christ with.
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