1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? We don’t need letters of recommendation to you or from you as some other people do, do we? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, 3 revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Merry Chau

One time my brother-in-law was at the snow, and a complete stranger asked him if his father’s name was Manh. This man had never met my brother-in-law before and knew nothing about him, yet just by seeing the similarities in their physical appearance, this man knew who his father was.

Today’s passage reminds me that we should reflect Christ to the whole world. We represent God and are a ‘letter from Christ’ (v3) by the way we show Jesus’ love and care to those around us, and by the things we say and do.  We are to shine God’s light and be His ambassadors so that when people see how we live and hear us speak of Christ, they can see something different from the rest of the world. We long and pray that they will see that God is our Father.

As I read verse 1, it also made me think of a competitive child playing a sport, and having a sports scout watching them play the game. Although there might be many people watching them play, only the scout’s opinion will matter and determine whether they make a higher team. Likewise, we live for an audience of one. Although there are many eyes on us every day and we are called to reflect Christ to them all, only God’s opinion and eyes truly matter. We love, work, and do life for His glory alone.

Let’s pray today that the Spirit of the Living God will help us be ambassadors for Christ, and that we might point people to God. Pray that God would help us to do things not to seek the approval of people, but of God alone. And like the man who saw my father-in-law reflected in my brother-in-law, pray that people would see Christ in each of us by the things we say and do, and by the way we love and care for one another.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Merry is a member of our Fairfield Morning congregation.