“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.”
(2 Corinthians 3: 3)
Letter writing unfortunately, in my mind, is fast becoming a thing of the past and I was reminded of this in a very nostalgic way a few weeks ago by a parcel that arrived in the mail from my sister in Australia. She had sold her house and was moving so she had spent many hours clearing out closets. During one such sorting through old papers, she came across a letter I had written to her nearly 50 years ago and decided to send it back to me. My husband and I and our three little girls had moved to an island in the Central Pacific for my husband to become the Dentist for the islanders and the Australian and English workers who filled many roles for the Australian Government and my letter was describing in great, detail that incredible adventure. As I read my own words, written so many years ago, my heart gave a little leap as memories came flooding back.
Paul communicated to those early believers through his letters and used this beautiful illustration to describe how when we take the Lord into our hearts all believers can become a letter from Christ to the world.
Before we can fill that role, we need to have the Lord’s words firmly placed in our hearts so others will be able to notice them. The Psalmists were very aware of this;
“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119: 11)
Again, the Psalmist prays for the Lord to give him discernment in reading Scripture so he faithfully can represent him;
“Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in you law.” (Psalm 119: 18)
When we try to live God’s word we will become those living letters of Christ to the world that Paul so aptly describes.
Because of today’s technology, hand written letters have almost disappeared having been superseded by e-mail, texting, twittering etc. The sad thing about these sterile printed words is they are unable to portray the character of the person sending them. 
Handwriting always carries with it the flavor of the writer. I have kept some of my father’s letters and when I see that spidery writing his image immediately pops into my mind. Paul even impresses this on his readers when he writes to them;
“I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write.” (2 Thessalonians 3: 17)
If we want to be those living letters for Christ we need to be genuine. We certainly remain ourselves but, the all, important words written on our hearts will leave behind the flavor of Christ.
Just recently my husband and I were watching an amazing performance on the TV of a young husband and wife playing two pianos at the same time in perfect unison. They seemed to be playing effortlessly and what is more astounding, the audience, could forward requests though an usher, of songs they would like to hear. Their gift of being able to play spontaneously these requests was further evidence of their skill. I would have loved to be able to play the piano and envied their gift, but when I thought of how this performance, could only have been perfected by hours of practice, I admired them more for not just the gift, but for the effort they must have put into perfecting the gift.
Paul had a beautiful prayer for the followers in Thessalonica and a great example for them to follow when he prayed for the Lord to increase their love to overflowing. We can do exactly that; pray for the Lord to help us to love others. I was reading an interesting article about this theme and one lady remarked that as she grew closer to the Lord she noticed, “I believe the new thing God is doing in my life is expanding my capacity and opportunities to love.”
These last few weeks, my husband and I have spent many hours in hospital waiting rooms, as we were both having tests that were punctuated by sometimes long intervals in between, which meant just sitting and watching the ever-changing crowd of patients doing the same thing. While I was observing those around us. I was struck by the outpouring of compassion I noticed over and over again between patients and those who were accompanying them. One particular, very, old couple, really touched me. The compassion flowing from the old husband to the old sick wife was beautiful to watch as he stroked her hand and constantly rearranged the rug over her knees to ensure she was warm. His compassion for her was a true testimony of his love.
I think Paul sums this problem in a very direct way and a wonderful message for all of us to follow;
Last week I had to present myself at our local hospital for a series of tests for my heart. I was not looking forward to them at all as two of them involved entering a dome of moving cameras and the last instructions from the radiologist were, “You must lie completely still and not move at all for the 13 minutes it takes for the test to be finished.” Usually if I am told to be still the first thing that happens is that I have an urgent need to wipe some imaginary thing off my face. I was dreading the test. On the morning of the test, my husband opened the Bible study we read together every morning, and this was the title;
One mother was sharing about a camp her young son had been enrolled in during the summer and how impressed she was with the way the camp instructors dealt with rewards for the many physical activities the children competed in. Her son was not specifically an athlete, but loved the camp as everyone was recognised for what ever enthusiasm they displayed while participating in all the games. He came home on the last day, very proudly bringing an award. When his mother opened the envelope, a beautiful certificate was inside;
Although the amount of talents was different for each servant, there was no difference in the reward for the first two who had diligently used the money to benefit the master. The third servant had not put in any effort, merely hiding his money in the ground, not benefitting anybody.
Perseverance seems to be the key word for us to note. It is with confidence, not a stop and start walk with the Lord, we make a commitment to participate to the best of our ability, not measuring our efforts with those around us but focusing our eyes on Jesus. As Paul writes:
Some friends and I were discussing what we were like as children and what different personalities our children had developed from us. I certainly was not a timid child, but I was also not the wild spokesperson for the class. None of my daughters are timid, but two of them are much more likely to tackle problems head on!
undermining our confidence in attempting to try at all;
Sometimes we bravely begin a venture and things seem to be overcoming us, this is when we need to focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, who is always ready to bolster our flagging spirits and listen for that powerful voice as it thunders over what is swirling around us,
Many, many stories are written about the quest to find hidden treasure, from wild stories of pirates hiding their loot on isolated islands, to archeologists discovering amazing tombs filled with artifacts worth millions of dollars. Just recently there was a story about two room mates who bought an old, second hand sofa at a thrift store and when they were trying to clean it, back at their apartment, one of the cushions came off and to their surprise, hidden underneath was a stack of money. Somebody had been using the sofa to store their treasure.
In the book of Isaiah, the prophet describes us as being moulded by the Heavenly Potter;
Isaiah also provides the clue that unleashes this amazing treasure;
In our family, July is birthday month and those celebrating birthdays range from 59 to 1. Doing justice to such a wide range of ages, takes some planning and certainly the choice of venues varied as to whom was the honoured guest. This last week we had the five-year-old sharing with his little one-year-old sister and the family dinner party was held at a popular Pizza place where children were welcome. The other celebrant in the same week was our daughter and this meal was celebrated in an elegant restaurant. Both were a lot of fun, but the big difference for me was the noise level! The clamour in the Pizza parlor seemed to overpower one as soon as we entered. The music was loud, televisions blared from every wall, the place was crowded and voices were raised to be heard over all the other extraneous noises. It was hard to hear the conversation.
The more time we spend being still before the Lord sharpens our ears to hear that small voice as it becomes more and more familiar so even in the clamour of the world’s voices we will still hear his, as we face the cross roads of life.
Just recently my husband and I were studying the last chapter of the book of Luke and many sermons have been written about this wonderful story of Jesus travelling beside two disciples who were very downcast after Jesus had been crucified as they had not yet heard of his resurrection. They did not recognise the Risen Jesus, but were astounded as this person they thought was a stranger, began to explain what the Scriptures meant and how they all pointed to the fact that the Messiah had come in the form of Jesus Christ.
Jesus himself summed up the Commandments in two important ones and the first emphasised that we love the Lord God not only with our hearts and souls, but with our minds as well.
Paul assures us in his letter to the Romans that we can be renewed repeatedly in our minds. We don’t need to be trapped into worldly ways, if we open our minds to the blessing He wants to bestow on us.
Just recently we were invited to visit a beautiful property owned by a very wealthy business man. The man was not going to accompany us, but he assured us that everybody who worked for him would be notified that we were coming and all we had to do was to mention his name and that we were his guests and we would be looked after. That proved to be exactly what happened. If we mentioned his name we were treated like royalty. His name was the key that opened all doors. I was thinking about the importance of names in our present everyday life, and the beautiful song we sang at our church service this Sunday, reminded me that we know the wonderful name that is above all names. This was the song.
I think that sometimes we forget the wonderful privilege it is to be able to call on the name of Jesus Christ. That powerful name opens the door and allows us into the presence of the Heavenly Father. We have access to the ear of the Creator of the universe, only because we can use Jesus’ name to allow us to do so.
Jesus’ name, but so often those words roll off our tongue without us acknowledging we have just blessed the words we have spoken with incredible power.
God Speaking 