LIVING LETTERS

2 CORINTHIANS 3:1- 6

1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 3You 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.
4Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6He 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.
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Has anyone ever challenged your credibility? If so, then you can identify with the apostle Paul. False teachers had infiltrated the church at Corinth with phony letters of authority, and accused Paul of having no such written commendation. Paul’s response was brilliant. He said the Corinthians themselves were his letter of recommendation, waiting to be known and read by everyone.

Just to set the record straight, Paul made it clear that whatever he had accomplished in the ministry, Christ had done through him. What a statement! And what an attitude.

The same Christ who gave Paul competence is there for you too. He is the one who will enable you to carry out a ministry in the lives of other people. But, like Paul, you need to be available for God to use. If you’re discouraged by your present ministry, don’t be. God may be working to produce Christlikeness in you today, so he can sue your more effectively in the future. Thank God that whatever gifts you have, or will have, come from him.