Letters From God

Bible Reading

Exodus 15
Luke 18
2 Corinthians 3

Devotional Thoughts

If your life were a letter of recommendation, to those who witness your life, what would it say? Would it communicate that you were sent from Christ? Would it have the earmarks of Christ? The language, the vocabulary, the content, would it show without question who wrote the letter?

In 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 Paul declares that the Corinthian church was that for Him. The letter he says was, “written on your hearts, to be known and ready by all.” This letter, “shows that you are from Christ, delivered by us.”

What does your letter communicate?

Here’s a couple “letters” from the other passages I read this morning:

Moses, the letter to Israel, sent by God.

• Exodus 15:2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God and I will praise him
• Exodus 15:7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries;
• Exodus 15:11 Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders.
• Exodus 15:13 You have lead in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed

The tax collector and the Pharisee. Who were these letters from?

• Luke 18:11-12 Prayed where all could see him, “I thank you that I am not like other men… especially this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all I get.
• Luke 18:13 Prayed by himself in the corner. He wouldn’t even lift his eyes up to heaven, but beat his breast, and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

How about Luke 18:29-30, would this be the content of your letter, sent by God to the world around you?

• Willing to leave their house or family or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God.

The final letter we see is the Blind Beggar in Luke 18:35-43.

• He was so eager to find Jesus, others had to rebuke him and tell him to be quiet.
• Because he sought Jesus with such faith, Jesus said to him, Luke 18:42 “Recover your sight, your faith has made you well.”

Paul concludes his thoughts about the testimony our lives can be with these words, “2 Cor 3:5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.”

When the source of the letter being written about our lives is God Himself, it will “show that you are from Christ, delivered by us (2 Cor 3:3). How does God become our sufficiency? I think the end of this chapter gives a pretty good answer to that question. 2 Cor 3:18 The more we behold Him and what He is like, the more we will be transformed into the same image.

Declarations

• My life is a letter you are writing to the world. I long for that letter to declare what you are like. As I behold you, your character, your works, and your glory, you promise that I will be transformed into your likeness. (2 Cor 3:18)
• I cannot live out your glory without you. Christ in the Christian is the source of a Christ-like life. I need you today to be your letter to those who witness my life.