Monday, April 27, 2015

A Letter from Christ

Years ago, before most of us lived, people used to write letters.  (Imagine that!

They would write to another person on a piece of paper, put it in an envelope, attach a stamp, address and send it.  It might take weeks to get to the one receiving it, but the hope was that they might write back.  It was the primary means of communication for many decades.

It was e-mail before the Internet.

Paul wrote about this when he said,

2 Cor. 3:3 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.

From this passage these words caught my attention and captivated my imagination, "you are a letter from Christ".  Suddenly my thoughts wandered to my encounters with others.  In each of those I bring a letter from Christ telling that person something about him, whether true or false.  If my encounter is angry I'm telling them Christ is mad at them.  If I'm impatient I'm telling them God doesn't have time for them.  My encounters with others mean something because I'm a Christian.  They communicate more than I know, more than I often realize because in each encounter I'm telling the other person something about God.

I'm a letter from Christ to each person I meet.  What are my words and my life telling them about him?  What am I communicating to them about the God I say I worship?  Each encounter isn't just me engaging another person, but it's a letter from Christ to that person as well. I'm the mailman and the letter.

After each encounter with someone what do they know about Christ because of me?  Are they drawn to him because of me or repulsed?  Do they want to "write back?" 

You are a letter from Christ.  What does your letter say?







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