A Living Letter of Faith … In Real-Time

 

“Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you.  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.”  (2 Corinthians 3:3, NLT)

Technology has made our lives in the 21st Century easier in many ways.  And in the eyes and hearts of those who love the Lord is the gratitude that He has blessed mankind with the ability to use the mind, the will, and even the emotions that He has given them, to see the need for various technologies in the varied fields of life.

Technology has also with its advancements diminished some aspects of human communication. We have become dependent people for the most part on social media to communicate … just as this article is doing!

One of the victims of technology is contributing heavily to the hand-written letter which seems to be almost obsolete.  Yet, when we open our mailbox outside and find a small envelope with a note or card inside … an envelope that contains a personal letter from a dear friend or family member … it brings with its opening … joy, and smiles!

The Apostle Paul speaks of the brethren at Corinth … a congregation of the Lord’s people living in an evil and wicked city who had obviously been influenced by the atmosphere of sin and tolerance of evil … from another perspective … as “a letter from Christ.”

A living letter … a letter in real-time … a letter with moving characters … a letter describing brothers and sisters in Christ who were demonstrating to one another and the world around them what it can mean to be serving the One true Living God!

Corinth, a leading city in a free Roman province, was a commercial crossroads, a center for Greek and Jewish business.  Wealth and idolatry were its chief characteristics … two characteristics that were not complimentary and were in fact, challenging to godly living.

It is very obvious just how much the Apostle loved these brethren from the times he came and helped to teach and preach the Gospel and saw the “fruits of his labor,” time and time again over an extended period of time. 

Were they perfect?  Far from it!  Were their hearts genuine and sincere?  God knew and others could see the change that had taken place in their lives.  God knows who His children of faith are at all times and is mindful of their very lives … even as He does today. These brethren, like the Thessalonians “… had received the word of God which you heard from us, they welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Corinthians 6:11)

Any person who has ever been involved in teaching and helping to lead someone who does not know Jesus Christ as the Savior, Lord, and King to obey Him … knows the closeness … the priceless value of leading someone to obedience. And the one who is privileged to share the message should always be the first one to recognize that the power lies in the Lord and it is to Him that the glory is to be given! (Proverbs 11:30)

I have certainly had the wonderful privilege granted to me many times over the years.  And it always saddens me when one of those chooses to go back to the world and walk away from all that is right!

At the same time, it both saddens and makes my heart glad, when I learn of one whom I had studied with, prayed with, and actually helped to lower them into the watery “grave of baptism” … who lived a good and faith life … that has passed from this life to the next!

Remembering the joy and sense of relief in their eyes and expressions as they came up “out of the water”… those memories are forever etched into my mind and heart.

One of those, the husband of an entire family and then the extended family, learning and accepting the truth and yielding to His will … passed away this past Sunday after a valiant fight with cancer!

You may never have had the chance to meet him, but he was a good friend and brother in Christ. His name … Jim Hockensmith … and I can assure you he is already missed for any number of reasons.

Jim was a kind and gentle soul … a retired Kansas City Police Officer, a veteran of the U.S. Navy … but more than all of this … He loved the Lord, His inspired and revealed Word and the Lord’s people!

It could be said of Jim, as it was of the Corinthian brethren that his letter (a living letter) not written with ink on parchment or paper, but a living letter reflected by the change brought about in his heart by the Spirit of God when he and his wife Laresa accepted the Lord’s invitation and obeyed the Gospel as Paul talks about in Romans 6:4-6.

The point I wish to make is this: How each of us chooses to live our lives before God, and the eyes of one another, and the world around us … reflects the nature of our God living in each of us … or it doesn’t!

So … how well are you reflecting His nature?

“For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.” (Philippians 1:21, NLT)

 Bill Fairchild, Jr.

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