Externals – Galatians 6:15

For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation.

---

What one sees on the outside is not always the true picture of the person on the inside. How one appears externally doesn’t accurately describe who they are or what drives them. Our focus is almost always on how people appear on the outside since we typically rely on what we see to inform what we know about another individual. We see their religious accomplishments, charitable activities, church work or lack thereof and make judgments. Yet, absolutely none of this amounts to anything as it regards their faith. Paul says it means nothing. Zero. And remember, Paul had many religious accomplishments and achievements of which to boast. The only thing that matters is a new creation. A changed heart. A transformed life through a mind that is being renewed. The old has gone – from the inside out. The new has come – from the inside out. Externals are empty and void without a changed heart. Listen, even the strongest sign a man could show for his faith, circumcision, meant absolutely nothing.

What truly matters is a new creation brought to be by the power of Christ within a human heart. Jesus Christ is the only true hope for change in an individual’s life and changed individuals are the only hope for change in a society as a whole. Religious accomplishments of any sort do not guarantee that a person’s heart has been changed. Jesus did say that we would know His followers by their fruit; i,e. words and deeds, and by their love but all of this must be solidly founded in the ultimate work of God for His children – to believe in the One He has sent (John 6). The only thing that matters is ‘faith expressing itself in love’. It is Jesus within us that brings value to who we are and anything we do. This can only happen via a transformed heart by the power of Christ. He has done it. We reap the benefit.