Spirit vs. Letter

[S] Romans 3:29 --
 ²⁹But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

[O] Any society desiring to live in order will need some type of a law to help establish that.  However, the ultimate purpose of having such a law is for the benefit of the people sharing that society.  So, the law is the result of people agreeing to follow for the sake of living in harmony with one another.  As time passes on, though, the people lose the focus of the initial purpose and get all wrapped up around following the law itself more than the reason behind it.  Paul seems to be addressing this issue with the Jewish people where they were so ingrained in following the Law itself they lost the purpose of serving God with their hearts.  To make things worse, as we are constantly trained to impress others by our external features we are pressured to look good on the outside even in our spiritual walk with God when God is interested in our dedicated hearts toward Him.  This is why living a life pleasing to God is so difficult in the midst of our society pressuring us to attain external status.

[A] As the circumcision originally intended to display the commitment to follow God's Laws, I would like to pursue and live a life that starts with the right intentions displaying the acts of commitments for surrendering my life to Jesus and His ministries.  I need to spend more time in prayer to prepare my hearts to just do this.

[P] Dear God, I want to tune my heart such that Your Spirit is the primary guiding factor instead of being too stuck on the rituals of serving You.  I desire to seek Your praise and that alone as I live out my life in various avenues.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.