Galatians 5:6 - Bona fide verified faith

"For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision has a certain strength nor [does] uncircumcision but rather faith through love working."

-In Christ Jesus. There is no other place to be, to be found. No need to look elsewhere - there is nothing for you there. These are in fact the droids you are looking for.  In Christ Jesus.  This is right where you want to be.  And in Him, in His economy of grace, works are not meritorious.  Works earn you no favor, no leg up on the competition.  It matters not whether you are circumcised or uncircumcised, Paul says.  God is not partial to either condition.  He doesn't look at the physical condition of any body part - He looks at the heart.  He is looking for faith, and that is what matters most.  Actually it is the only thing that matters - real, working faith and trust in Jesus Christ.  He's looking for bona fide verified faith, faith working, demonstrating itself through love.  In other words, it is not simply head belief or an empty profession, but it is accompanied (and verified) by real displays of lovingkindness.

-Where is the love?  Where is the love?  That is the multi-billion-dollar question.  If I have faith to move mountains but do not have love, I am spiritually bankrupt (1Corinthians 13.2). There is no real faith if I do not have real love working itself out through my life (1Timothy 1.5).  If I AM in Christ, having truly trusted in Him, then I will have love.  Not just a general niceness and politeness and a propensity to smile.  We're talking about a demonstrated readiness to lay my life down for another.  To go out of my way and to sacrifice for them.  Like Jesus.  Living like Jesus - that's always a good example to follow!  :)  But what propelled God the Son towards sacrificial acts of love was not the fact that He was circumcised or that He had been baptized.  It was not some external ritual.  It was the reality of the divine nature within Him.  Thus it is for us - we're talking about the divine nature being planted and germinating IN us, then being released THRU us and manifested to a broken and dying world around us.  The world doesn't need a ritual.  It doesn’t need creeds and head knowledge and once-a-week meetings which make no difference in my life or in the world around me.  It needs the love of God.  It needs us to live into that heavenly mindset of others-first, others better, just like Jesus. Which is precisely the point...