A letter from Christ

Friends, Have you ever read this passage of scripture? I'm not sure I have and it struck me so intensely that I wanted to share it with all of you..

"You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known by everybody. 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 Cor 2:2-4

Have you ever thought about your ministry, the faith that you profess with your life being a letter from Christ to a lost and dying world? What your actions say to others, do they breath words and lines of love and hope, or something lesser? I was absolutely struck by these words, and what a way to have them said, so beautiful. And of course, Paul goes on to give the Lord all the glory that He ought to have as he says this in regards to how we are to do this:

"Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for our ourselves but our competence comes from God."

vs 4,5

So he says, just in case you thought for one moment the life of love you breath towards others in the life of a love letter from Christ came from you, it does not. And it never will, in fact we are not even competent to do this in our own power...

The life that is close enough to God to call their very existence a "love letter from Christ" ought to know one thing, they are blessed. I want that to be said of me...and I pray that someday when I am dead and gone it will be, but I almost feel odd saying so because I feel so far from it at this point..

But I feel we are to desire it, and to strive through His Holy Power to have it...to achieve the kind of life that Paul describes here.

I am simply dumbfounded by (myself) and others as I watch us all walk around in such a way that this "life is never going to end!" The end is probably closer than we can imagine, and I want, I desire to make the most of the life that God has given me...through His power.

I am not above the rest, I simply have lived on the side caution and on the side of living for myself WAY to long. Going through the trial I am beginning to emerge from has made me focus on things that really matter...and as difficult as it is, it forced me to take a good look at myself and all the insignificant, and unimportant things that filled my days.

My life, was lived for me...and my pleasure. Do my days have kingdom purpose? When I get on an air plain, am I thankful for moments of peace to relax by myself, or am I praying desperately that the Lord would lead me to the person who He would have me minister to? Am I aware that there are hundreds of spiritual battles going on around me everywhere I go?

Am I ministering with my very existence? Sadly, No. But I'm aware, and I'm yearning to learn of how I can hold this very understanding in my heart and mind, by His power, and for His glory.

That sounds like a lot of work you say? Well, Friend, in my new opinion, it's the only work worth doing, and the only work that holds eternal value, and the only work that truly brings, peace and joy, even in trial. Yes. Even in trial.

The thought of prisoners being chained to walls and singing praises at the top of their lungs, baffles me. The thought of a man, born to die, saying, "Father forgive them, they know not what they do.." Is beyond my comprehension. But I am forcing myself to go there, because for so many years, I've hidden my face from the hard issues, and thought, "that's what missionaries are for..." and I would comfort my selfishness with a single phrase such as that, and move on.

We don't desire this on our own my friends, we don't live this life of love towards others directly from Christ on our own...it's only by His strength that we can do this...but we must try and strive, and pray and beg and learn and live to live this way, if we are to truly be who God made us to be. It's work worth doing. It's sleep worth loosing. It's life worth having. Because friends, this type of life saves lives. Have you ever thought of yourself as a life-saver? As a hero of sorts? Well, in the eyes of God, you are, to His lost and dying world. This is challenge to myself, this is a challenge to you. What will we do with the old way of life? Who can we be now if Christ truly takes over? Who can we be? More than than you or I could ever imagine, through His power, for His glory. And that's all that matters.