ReflectionsYou are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. (2 Cor. 3:1-3)
What is the testimony that God is writing in and through us? Is it a testimony about US — or about all WE have done for God? Is it a testimony about all of our potential greatness — about what a wonderful specimen WE can become? No. A living epistle of Christ is about HIM – and all HE has done for us.The Spirit of God is writing living epistles – that tell the Truth About Jesus Christ. Christian people are supposed to be living evidence of the Risen Christ — evidence of HIS life and grace.
Often when we hear such things we despair because we know our failures. But a living epistle of Christ is not someone who is so, “spiritual,” that they never fail. Rather, a living epistle of Christ is someone, who DESPITE their continual failures, is a testimony to HIS grace and redemption.
But in order for this to be genuine, that living epistle must be MADE TRUE TO GOD. This is just another way of saying that we must be changed by the Truth so that we can be evidence of Jesus Christ without the corruption of our own bias, agenda, or flesh.
God writes living epistles through the work of the Cross. The result are people who are, “always bearing about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus” — but unto THIS PURPOSE — “that the life also of the Lord Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal bodies.” (II Cor. 4:10) That is how God writes His living epistles. The result is a life that gives evidence to the Treasure, Jesus Christ — but not to the earthen vessel in which He dwells. This is how we are to be witnesses to Him.