Sunday 7 February, 2021

3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 4 Such confidence we have through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Just as for Paul, people see God in our lives not by what we say but in how we live life and the positive impacts we have on those around us. What impacts are you having on those around you? Do they feel loved by you? Are they seeing how to live life God’s way by how you are living life? It is such a big call. God asks us to represent Him here on earth to those He has put in our lives. None of us can do it without His help.

The other thing about this is that this world sets our minds on what we need, what we must do for our lives to go well which distracts us from what God has asked of us – to grow in our relationship with Him and to bring that relationship to those around us.

Lord this is a big deal, You have asked us to bring You to the people who cross our paths and that works best by people seeing us living in relationship with You. But to do this requires effort on our behalf to choose to live life Your way Lord. Help us to make this choice and teach us how to live and love well.

Written by Therese Manning