01/19/2022
When we carry the gospel to those around us do they see us as imposters? Do they recognize us as legitimate men and women of God, or just charlatans who want to take advantage of them? Even foreign dignitaries carry papers with them that bear the seal of the government they represent to prove their authenticity, so what identifies us as true emissaries of Christ? Surprisingly, we don’t need a letter with its wax seal, because we ourselves are the proof, and the letter. Jesus has written the evidence of our legitimacy on our hearts, and we bear His watermark; engrained within us by our baptism. We are walking, and talking, letters from Christ Jesus.
“You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all.”
2 Corinthians 3:2 ESV
Have we ever considered ourselves in this way? Do we realize that before we say the first word to someone regarding the gospel of Jesus, we have already presented them with the proof of who we are by what Jesus has written on our hearts? In his second letter to the Corinthians Paul described this to them in these words...
“And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered 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 3:3 ESV
When I first read this passage of scripture I wondered what Jesus could possibly write on my heart to convince others that I was representing Him, and the almighty God. I thought to myself “How will people see this letter, and know me as a man of faith when it is hidden within me, and what about me makes me worthy of such?” We all think this way when we begin to have gospel conversations with others, but it isn’t so much about what we personally will speak, or write, as it is about what our heart, and our spirit will convey about our relationship with He who resides within us.
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20 KJV
In studying the gospel we also read the story of the adulteress who was about to be stoned, and Jesus kneeling down and writing in the sand. We read this and wonder what He wrote that day; just as we wonder what is written on our hearts that might be so powerfully convincing to others. Listen to what occurred that day at the stoning…
“This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.”
John 8:6-9 KJV
The words that are written in the sand, and those written on our hearts… what is it about them that is so convicting, and at the same time, so convincing? Why are we not told what is written on our heart, or what Jesus wrote in the sand? Well, I have come to believe that it isn’t so much the letters, but the spirit. We worship in spirit and truth, and these are not something that is written, but are ideas that live beyond the Words.
“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
2 Corinthians 3:4-6 ESV
After a conversation aboard an airplane with a pastor I had just met in the airport, he told me something profound. He told me that when we saw each other earlier we did not know each other, but that our spirits knew one another. This is true because Jesus abides within us, and because we exude the love of God we have within us…
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””
John 13:34-35 ESV
The men dropped their rocks and walked away from the adulteress because they were convicted by the Spirit, in much the same way that others know us now… not by our credentials, words, or the clothes we wear, but by the union of our spirit with theirs. We are told to worship in spirit and truth because of the power contained within them; a power that bridges Heaven and earth to reveal any trace of sin in us, and that allows us to understand things about one another that we are unable to see.
“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.””
John 4:23-26 ESV
Are we the epistles of Jesus? Do our hearts carry within them the hand written recommendation of Christ?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for not only knowing our hearts, but for sending your Son Jesus to write His truth upon them. Thank you for opening our spiritual eyes, and allowing us to see one another’s spirits, and hearts. Thank you for convicting us of our sins through the true spirit of Jesus as He writes in the sand within us, and for convincing others that we are sent by you through the spirit that they see glowing from within us. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who lives with in us, and shines forth into the world as we spread the gospel to all men. Merciful are you who shows us our sins so that we can drop the rocks we are carrying, and make amends through the power of the blood of Christ. Your grace is sufficient Father, and we praise you for it. We are made worthy, not by any effort if our own, but through Christ alone. Forgive us Father, and seat us at your table forevermore… our spirits, in communion with yours for all eternity.
Rich Forbes