It can be easy to read the Old Testament of the Bible through a lens of legalism. We sometimes think that God was all about rules in the Old Testament and then He became about grace in the New Testament. Nothing could be farther from the truth. God has always been about relationship.
Think about our earthly relationships. We use signs and symbols to show those, wether it’s a ring on a finger, internet status, or a photo saved as our phone lock screen. These are things we use as outward signs and reminders to ourselves of our relationships, but they are not the relationships themselves.
God has always wanted our hearts more than our outward signs. Paul in Romans 2:25-29 is calling us to realize that to be the people of God, God has to have our hearts.
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