You are a Letter!

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 2 Corinthians 3:1-3

You are a letter! You are evidence of Christ’s transformational love and a carrier of His Holy Spirit. You are a living, breathing, walking testimony of God’s goodness.

In the days of the early church, those serving as apostles and missionaries carried with them letters of recommendation to prove they were legitimate, true representatives of the early church. Similar to certificates of ordination today, these letters were used to fend off and weed out false prophets who claimed to be traveling missionaries for the sake of scamming the church out of money and offerings. These letters of recommendation provided each visited congregation with the confidence, assurance, and evidence of the traveling missionary’s legitimacy

Here, Paul says that he has a letter of recommendation, but that letter is not on paper; rather, the letter is the Corinthians themselves. That the church of Corinth and the souls of those who were a part of it were living, breathing evidence of his legitimacy, and, more importantly, evidence of the transformational power of Christ. The members of the church were living letters of recommendation and living evidence of Paul’s ministry, empowered by the work of the Spirit. Physical letters of commendation are valuable, but the stories and testimonies of those who have been changed by Christ are priceless.

APPLICATION:

If those around you were to read the letter of your life, what would that letter communicate? Can they see Christ saturated evidently between the lines and amidst the margins, or would they not be able to tell you are different?

Your life is a letter to those around you of Christ’s faithfulness. Studies show that the average person interacts with about 25 people per day. Would those 25 people be able to see that you’ve been changed by Christ by the way that you live? Would those people be able to see that God is your father and that you know you are loved unconditionally through the way that you speak? Would they be able to sense the power of the Holy Spirit residing within you?

To some you encounter, you may be the only Bible they ever read. You may be the only Christian they know, and the only chance for them to experience the love of Christ. Each day you wake up, God gives you the opportunity to minister to those around you through the way that you live. Today, take that opportunity. Imprint Christ on the letter of your life in such a way that others know without a doubt that you are different. When others read the letter of your life, live in such a way that they can’t help but see Christ.