Are Your Ears Uncircumcised?

Are Your Ears Uncircumcised?
by Joe Burke

"To whom shall I speak? Whom shall I warn, and be heard?
See! Their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot give heed;
See, the word of the LORD has become for them an object of scorn, which they will not have." (Jeremiah 6:10)

Christianity without hearing the voice of the Lord is like a marriage without intercourse, without intimacy. It is extremely abnormal Christianity, if it's Christianity at all.

In the book of Isaiah it says: "While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears: This is the way; walk in it, when you would turn to the right or to the left." (Isa 30:21). Jesus said: "My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me." (John 10:27) and "Anyone committed to the truth hears my voice." (John 18:37) There are over 300 references to the voice of the Lord in sacred scriptures.

It is obvious from the scriptures that we are supposed to be in intimate contact with Jesus and hear Him speaking to us. Not usually in an audible voice that we hear through our ears, but in a small still voice that resounds loud and clear to the depths of our hearts.

In this day and age, we seemed to have lost our ability to hear the voice of the Lord for ourselves. Many Christians are even unaware that intimacy with God and hearing the voice of the Lord is what Jesus died for on Calvary. It is no mystery as to how we got in our present abysmal condition! "The word of the LORD has become for us an object of scorn, which we will not have." (Jer 6:10) We have no time for God's Holy Word. We have no time to spend in intimate prayer with Jesus and His word.

We replace hearing the voice of the Lord and intimacy with Jesus with pius practices and religious devotions. As a result our ears are deaf, they are uncircumcised.

We have tons of religious practices today and extremely few Christians who hear the Holy Spirit and who can prophecy: "Thus says the Lord" or "It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and ours too." (Acts 15:28) Listen to what God thinks about our pius practices and uncircumcised ears. "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Heap your holocausts upon your sacrifices; eat up the flesh! In speaking to your fathers on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I gave them no command concerning holocaust or sacrifice. This rather is what I commanded them: Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people." (Jer 7:21-23)

In other words God is saying, I'm not impressed by your pius practices, your religious acts. What I'm looking for is a humble man or woman who will seek my face in prayer and listen to the voice of my Holy Spirit in the sacred scriptures.

How do we unstop our ears to hear the voice of the Lord? Jesus said: "Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: 'Rivers of living water will flow from within him.'" (John 7:37,38) These Rivers of living water refers to the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit that every baptized Christian receives.

"For most of us Baptism is a bound Sacrament."

However, as Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, the Pope's preacher says, for most of us, Baptism is a bound sacrament. That means that while we have received baptism in the church, the church gave it in hope that at some point in our adult life we would confirm our I believe in a personal free act of faith. Until there is this act of faith in the life of a Christian, baptism remains a bound sacrament.

Bound means no Rivers of living water, no supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. No personal free act of faith prepared in repentance. No total commitment to Jesus as Lord as an adult. Huge numbers of Christians are walking around with bound baptisms. It is the reason why there are so many inactive Christians. It is the reason for design your own Christianity. It is the reason why so many Christians are powerless. It is the reason why everybody goes to Communion and nobody goes to Confession. It is by far the biggest crisis in the church today. It is the reason why we have uncircumcised ears.

Lord Jesus we desperately need you! Have mercy on us. We are your children. Don't leave us in our present condition. Pour out your grace on us. Cause us to repent and humble ourselves before you. Release a spirit of believing, expecting faith upon us. Amen.