"You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter of 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." 2Corinthians 3:2-3
Paul is writing to the Corinthians and encouraging them to live their lives in such a way that everyone would see the 'gospel' just by observing them. This is both a compliment and extremely convicting at the same time. I think all of us have heard the saying that goes.... 'You may be the only Bible somebody may ever read'. So we want our lives to reflect Christ. On many pulpits I have stood behind there is a plaque that says, 'Sir, we would see Jesus'. Always makes me pause and think; that’s for sure. Our lives and words or thoughts shouldn't judge people like the tablets of stone which refer to The Law or Ten Commandments. Our lives and words or thoughts should be a heartfelt living testimony of good news of His love and grace, hope and joy. Who we are should be an encouraging open letter of all that God has done is doing and will do in our lives.
Behind the message of these verses is a slightly veiled reference to the "falsified letters" that false prophets were known to carry, allegedly from Paul or others, forged to give opportunistic preachers credibility, so they could take advantage of unsuspecting churches and believers. Such charlatans and phonies were fast and smooth talkers who would stoop to anything for money, power or fame. We all want to be sincere Christians, don't we? We desire to reflect Christ and have our lives be a good testimony, right? Easy to say, not so easy to do. Maybe that simple honest statement would be a better witness in and by itself. May we all take the message of our lives more seriously as we reflect Him moment by moment and day by day. Like this wonderful song. "Day by day, Day by day…O dear Lord, three things I pray…To see thee more clearly… love thee more dearly…Follow Thee more nearly…Day by Day."
Amen,
Pastor Fred
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I actually had never heard or read the saying, "You may be the only Bible somebody may ever read," but now that I have I pray that I'm increasingly mindful of how my own pages read. Thank you for sharing!
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