LETTER
Sometimes we are separated from those we love by gulfs of time and space. They may be on a trip, off to college or simply had to move to another place for work. Before the advent of the cell phone, it was quite expensive to call and talk on the telephone to someone in a different state.
Now, we have cell phones with unlimited long distance calling, email and Instant Messaging giving us a written real time conversation with someone regardless of where they are, just as long as they have access to the internet.
In Paul’s day, the letter was about the only way you could communicate to people that were in another location. Letters were very important. In the following passage, Paul describes our lives as letters:
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? 2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 2 Corinthians 3:1 - 3 (NASB)
The phrase “read by all men” ought to make us stop and think. What is being conveyed here is that the way we act toward others is perceived as a tremendously important piece of communication. Some people see how we act and may be adversely affected by it though we may never hear their response. As in writing a letter to someone in Paul’s day, they may have received the message and responded poorly, but Paul wouldn’t have immediately known it. Mail service wasn’t as fast as it is today…there was a delay.
The “letter” of our life should be carefully considered as it is lived out day by day. If we recall as Paul admonishes that we are a “letter of Christ”, an important communication to the world from Him, we will be careful to dot all the “i”s and cross all the “t”s.
Our acceptance of Christ’s sacrificial death for us on the cross caused the Holy Spirit to indwell us. As we remain yielded to His leading, the letter of our lives will be a clear testament for Jesus Christ, the author and perfector of our salvation. It will lead other people to Him. We, as living letters, become the ultimate witnesses for the Master.
SEEK FIRST THE
