Living Epistles

Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. II Corinthians 3:1-3 (KJV)

We are to be the epistles of Jesus Christ. Epistle means letter. Most unsaved people don’t read the Bible, so they don’t see or know God through His Word. However, when they see Bible-believing Christians like us, they are to be reading God and His Word through us. God writes His Word on our hearts by His Spirit. And as we read God’s written Word, we become living letters, or epistles, to others. His Word flows through us and our lives to be noticed by the people around us.

People can learn a lot about God by the way we carry ourselves. When they see us, they need to see Jesus- His love, joy, wisdom, patience, power, righteousness, and victory in action. Then we can minister the Word of God to them and operate in the gifts of the Spirit to help them. In so doing, we can make them hungry and thirsty for the things of God, bringing them to a saving knowledge of Jesus.

As we keep our hearts soft, God can write His Word on our hearts. Then we can continually be living epistles for Christ, read and known by all, making God known everywhere we go.