Good Day Dear Friends,
“YOU are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for 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.” (2Corinthians 3:2-3 NASB)
When your spouse, child, parent or sibling looked at you first thing this morning, what did they see? When your coworkers or the cashier at the WaWa saw you today, what was their read on you? Did the smile on your face and the gleam in your eyes spell- C H R I S T?
As Paul’s encouraging Word reveals, Followers of Jesus Christ have something very new and very special written into their hearts. It’s a New Covenant… an Eternal Promise… a Perfect Gift handed down from the Father of Lights, personally and Eternally engraved by the finger of God. “This is My Beloved Son, listen to Him!” (Mark 9:7) And because of the AMAZING Love of God, manifested in Jesus Christ, we are no longer as the world, under a ministry of condemnation; rather, we are renewed by the LifeSaving Blood of Jesus that now pulses through us to cleanse, invigorate and restore our former hearts of stone, into hearts that live for and thrive on the Righteousness of God. “For if the ministry of condemnation [living under the Law] has glory, much more does the ministry of Righteousness [living in the Spirit] abound in Glory.” (2Corinthians 3:9)
So let’s get back to our opening question. How do others read us; when others see us in our daily lives, and when our family, our friends, or that single-mom in the checkout line, who’s struggling to make ends meet, when they look into our eyes, what do they see? Paul writes: “Therefore having such a Hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away.” (Vv.12-13) In Jesus, we are on solid ground; He is the Mercy and Grace that has Saved us; He is our Rock of Salvation, and we shall not be shaken, because in Him we have an Eternal Hope. The apostle isn’t saying that we can attain Hope by Following Jesus; he’s declaring that as Believers in Christ we already have it. We are secured in the hand of the Almighty God and no one can change that. Therefore, since we have this Hope, do we share it with others as Jesus has with us? Do our thoughts and especially our actions spell out the Name of Mercy and Grace… the One Who is the Source of our Joyful, Peaceful Hope?
As Believers we are so Blessed, because the veil has been removed for us and Hope revealed. “But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” (Vv.14-16) We need to pray for the Jews who still have not accepted Jesus as Messiah, and also for all those who are still living aimlessly and hopelessly in this world. And, in Thanksgiving and Praise for the Blessings both received and yet to come, the Lord calls us to speak boldly of Him, in our speech and our actions, so that others may know “whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” (v.16)
For when the Glory of the Lord engraves your heart, He does it with His Spirit… “the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the Glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” (2Corinthians 3:17-18 NKJV) So, the Power of the Lord is within us, to reflect HIM in all that we are and everything we do. How are we doing with that opportunity to bring Glory to His Name? May we truly LIVE the Life He’s given us, to be all that He’s calling us to be. In Jesus’ Name we pray,
AMEN
Tom
