Living Letters

 Living Letters

June 19

2 Corinthians 3:1-3 NLT

1 Are we beginning to praise ourselves again? Are we like others, who need to bring you letters of recommendation, or who ask you to write such letters on their behalf? Surely not! 2 The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our hearts; everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you. 3 Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.

I was thinking about this scripture from this week’s lesson when the song “I want my life to preach” came on the radio. That seemed very appropriate. You often heard it said, “Your life may be the only Bible that some people read”. So if your heart was a letter, what would it say?

One of my personal quirks is that I have difficulty reading people. I tend to keep my emotions buried,which probably makes it difficult for others to read me as well. Therefore, I’m not entirely sure what people read when the see my “heart letter”. One always hopes that people see the best in you, but do they? In my case, I know some people get offended because I don’t always return a greeting, but I am hard of hearing, so many times just don’t hear them. Do people ever misread your intentions? With that in mind, I think we need to make an effort to make our heart known. The more open we are the easier it is for people to read our “heart letter”.

The Bible lesson at church last night was the parable of the Good Samaritan. One way for people to know our heart is for us to be there for them in trouble and reach out and help them when they are in need. There was no doubt that the Samaritan in the parable cared for his neighbor since he took time, effort and money to care for the wounded traveler. It certainly makes it easier for people to to read our “heart letter” when we make an effort to help them in concrete ways.

So endeavor today to be a clear letter written by Christ that shows the love of God. Be a letter of recommendation for the Kingdom of God that helps them to see that there is a better way to live than what the world offers.’