This morning, my personal devotions were in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, and verse 3 really stood out to me. As a blogger, a writer, and as a Christian.
Verse 3 says: “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ; ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
I am an epistle, a letter, from God to the world.
I am a letter, written by Christ, via the ink of the Spirit, to all who encounter me.
That is pretty wild when you think about it!
Uh, Oh…. That is pretty scary when you think about it too.
What does my letter say to others?
I hope my letter is one written in red letters, you know, the ones that came right from Jesus’s mouth.
I hope my letter doesn’t have a glitchy messy message that is hard to follow.
I hope my letter doesn’t have a sub-text, that confuses the “reader” and takes them away from the glorious ending, and the Author Himself!
I see a lot of ‘letters’ like this; letters that seem to have 2 messages going on at the same time. One message that is written by Christ, and a second message that has the world’s ink written all over it.
The Bible tells us that the double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. (James 1:8) I don’t want to be an unstable letter.
The Bible tells us not to be like children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine… (Eph. 4:14) I don’t want to be a breezy wind-tossed letter.
(But I do want children, as well as adults, to be able to ‘read my letter,’ and be drawn to its Author.)
So, how do I ensure that the letter of my life points to the Author and Finisher of my faith?
First, I think when I read HIS letter to me regularly, (The Bible) and take in all I can of Him, my own letter starts to reflect and link to His letter. Then people will see that I have been with the author, Jesus. If I hide His word in my heart, and meditate on His scripture, the links will be visible, and not broken by hypocritical or misleading ‘code,’ or references.
Secondly, as the “paper” I need to let the Author write on me what He chooses. The paper doesn’t tell the Author what to write. It simply yields to the writer, allowing the ink to absorb into it without smearing and distorting the message the Author wants to send. I am not to be a hard table of stone, but a soft malleable, fleshy table of the heart, that the Author wants to pen His beautiful letter on.
Thirdly, who the Author sends me – His letter – to, is His business. I am not responsible for how they receive the letter, or if they even open it at all. If my letter stays true to the Author’s message, and I haven’t added a misleading one of my own, then His beautiful writing should draw the reader in. He alone has the Words of Life, and His words won’t return void, but will accomplish what He intends. He is the Master Author. He knows what He is doing. He knows how to effectively write to get His message across.
In conclusion, I hope you get the metaphor. I hope you see that Jesus wants to write His story on your heart, and share it with the world. It starts with the the story of your Salvation, but this epistle continues until the closing chapter… Heaven. This is the letter, or book, He is writing on you. Yield to His pen, the Holy Spirit, and don’t mess up His story by trying to write your own on top of it. His is so much better! His is so much more fulfilling, and inspiring! His writing leaves no broken links or code, or unfulfilled characters, but every part of it leads to a miraculous story of healing, and freedom and Happily Ever After like no other story ever written. Jesus’s writing will take you to places and experiences you never dreamed possible, and ones that complete your wildest dreams you never even knew you had!
My letter isn’t completed yet, but I am excited to see all the amazing things God wants to write on me, if I let Him have His way with my paper, and yield to the Holy Spirit’s inklings in my life. And I hope He has a big eraser for all the times I tried to write my own story in between His. One day, I look forward to reading all the letters Jesus has written on all of His followers.
Heaven is going to have a huge “library” of stories to read.
I hope yours is one of them!
© 2018 LauraJSE All RIGHTS RESERVED
