Life Letters

 February 28, 2022

“You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 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 3:2-3 

“You are the only Bible some people will ever read.” I cannot say how often I’ve heard these words, admonishing us to live out our faith with integrity. They simply restate St. Paul’s word to the Corinthian Christians who had not been doing particularly well in this department. This church was filled with gifted and talented people, but they were constantly at each other’s throats, scrabbling for power and influence while behaving so badly that they were worse than the pagans outside the faith.

He had written to them before about the sad state of their lives and witness, and had received word of a favorable response to his letter of correction. So now, he could breathe a bit easier, and commend them for their change of heart and life. 

At our men’s Bible study tonight, we asked the question, “How easy is it for people to read Jesus in you?” Do we write in invisible ink? Is our life story disjointed or illegible? Do we hide our life’s letter in a stack of papers so no one will see it? 

I’m an introvert by nature, and have had to work all my life on writing this life-letter plainly and legibly. I’ve had to force myself to open my mouth with a word of testimony; people are surprised that as a preacher, it doesn’t come naturally to me. It’s one thing to talk about Christ in church where the majority of those listening are in agreement and supportive; it’s quite another to do so in the marketplace of ideas where the message of the Gospel is not readily accepted, but instead is ridiculed or outright opposed. But it’s there where my life-letter needs to be written in large script, clear for all to read.

We asked a second question tonight: “Where does your life-letter need some editing?” What doesn’t follow the story line? What contradicts the message we are trying to give? My daughter has written a few books, and will give plenty of testimony about how many times she had to go over her manuscripts, editing them to make sure the grammar lined up or the story flowed consistently. It was a demanding and difficult process, but was necessary to get an end product that would adequately convey the message she had to give.

I’m not done editing my life yet. There are parts of the story that don’t properly fit into the redemption story I’m trying to live. So the work goes on. I’m trying to write my life so people will be able to clearly “see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” —2 Corinthians 4:4