Devotion for Wednesday in the First Week in Lent

Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

~ Romans 4:9-13

The Jews put a lot of faith in the act of circumcision, as that was the sign that they were God’s people. But it wasn’t the circumcision that made them righteous—it was their faith. Abraham was not circumcised until after God declared him righteous because of his faith. Abraham trusted God so much that he was willing to sacrifice his son that God promised would make him the father of many nations. He had waited for years for Isaac’s birth, and all God’s promises to Abraham rested on Isaac. Yet Abraham knew that God would keep His promises even if he killed Isaac as a sacrifice. God would intervene supernaturally to ensure that Abraham had both many descendants and the land that the Lord had told him would be his. At that demonstration of Abraham’s faith, God did intervene; He told Abraham not to harm Isaac, and He provided a ram for the sacrifice. He also counted Abraham’s faith as righteousness.

Lord God, give me the faith of Abraham so that the righteousness of Jesus is imputed to me. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

These daily devotions are available in a book The Grace of God, with all profits donated to Love for the Least to share the compassion of Christ with an unreached world. L4L shares the Good News of the Gospel with the least and unreached by making disciples of Jesus who make disciples (2 Tim 2:2) and by helping to meet the physical needs of the poorest of the poor.

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