Daily life with Jesus by Grahame Howard: You are an Epistle of Christ

"(2) You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; (3) clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart."
2 Corinthians 3:2-3 NKJV

In the early church, letters of recommendation were often sent with Christians clarifying their position of ministers of God. Otherwise, anyone could turn up claiming to be a prophet, apostle or whatever. These letters, although probably not foolproof, helped to certify that they were who they claimed to be and with the rightful qualifications. In today's world, a certificate of ordination helps to clarify a person's credibility as a minister but not that they are born again or baptised in the Holy Spirit.

Dwight L Moody said:

'Where one man reads the bible, a hundred read you and I.'

The recommendation that Paul is speaking about here, was not written in ink. It was written by The Holy Spirit and Jesus was the author. As Dwight L Moody said, many men may read and study the bible; they may know it off by heart and be able to quote every scripture they need. But that is only head knowledge if there is no fruit from their labours. As we've seen in our earlier commentaries, people are not all that impressed with what you know, it is what they see - in you and I.

Dwight L Moody went on to say:

'I wouldn't give much for what can be accomplished though sermons, if we don't preach Christ by our lives.'

Again we come to, what do people see in you? Do they see Jesus or the knowledge that you may have? If you have both, that is fine. But if it is just knowledge they see, then some tweaking needs to be done before anything of spiritual value will come.

You can preach a great sermon and have no fruit from it at all. If that happens, you need to be ready to analyse yourself, seek God and find out what is missing. You may speak to many people about Jesus but, if nothing happens, are you doing this in your own strength or through the power of God?

Look at our scripture again and focus on, 'written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.'

We can have stony hearts, made brittle by life events - things that have wounded us over the years. These can prevent us from flowing in the Holy Spirit. If this is the case with you, lay it all before God and let Him deal with it all - heart surgery. Once that is out of the way, just allow the Spirit of God to lead you and speak through you in all ways so that you become an epistle of Christ with God's recommendation of your credibility, written on your heart.

'Lord Jesus, Come and live in my heart in such a way, that I am a living testimony of Yourself, to all I meet and speak with today. In Jesus' Name. Amen.