As believers in Christ, we are His ministers. Our lives are a testimony to who He is and what He has done for us and in us. When we interact with others, they should recognize attributes of Christ in us—His love, kindness, and compassion to name a few. We may be the only epistle from Christ they see (or read).
Clearly, you are a letter from Christ . . . This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is
carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.
We are confident of all this because of our great trust
in God through Christ. It is not that we think we are qualified
to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.
He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant.
2 Corinthians 3:3-6a, NLT
During a recent phone call, a friend of ours experienced a situation where he contacted a woman from his church to see if he could schedule a sales appointment with her. The lady he called hung up on him. The woman texted him a few days later to apologize. She felt terrible that she’d been rude. She explained that she’d had several robocalls already, and it was late. Since the call, her actions bothered her, and she wanted to tell him she was sorry. This is an example of a believer who admitted their mistake and was quick to seek forgiveness. We’re not perfect—we mess up, but we strive to be like Christ and fix our blunders.
Just as Paul spoke the words above to the Church at Corinth, we are living epistles or letters read and recognized by others. The Holy Spirit has written on our hearts Christ’s message of life and love. We have confidence in the Holy Spirit’s work in us because of our trust in God. Our sufficiency comes from Him. We cannot do anything on our own, but God qualifies us and has enabled us to be His ministers.
We don’t have to be called into a full-time ministry to be used by God. As His ministers, we can share His love in little ways as well as big. I’ve listed a few basic ways to show Christ’s love, kindness, and compassion to others in our daily lives.
Be a blessing to someone in need
Be a friend
Be quick to forgive and to seek forgiveness
Do our best for our employer and to those who we’ve made a commitment
Keep our word
Share a smile
Speak kindness to those we meet and to those we love
Write a note of encouragement
There are many more. Please list your thoughts in the comment section on how we can be recognizable as a letter from Christ in our daily lives. I believe the key is to do whatever we do for the Lord and for His glory.
And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
Colossians 3:17, NLT
Photo by Kelly Sikkema - Unsplash