Sincerely Yours,

I was writing this before Sunday when Pastor Steve went over it a bit....that means I should finish writing it:)

When I was in elementary school, we used to practice letter writing. Not alphabet letters, but letters we would write to people. We would say things like:

Dear Mom,

I had a good day at school today.
Hope you had fun.

Love,
Rob

We learned all the proper formatting, where the date went, what a salutation was, etc. I can remember when I was in my teens and early 20's I wrote letters to people using these skills. I had friends that lived in different states, and since there were long distance phone call charges (anyone remember the MCI commercials....my gosh I am old), we wrote letters to each other. Its an era that has passed. Not too many people take the time to write letters when there is email and Facebook and IM and texting and phone calls with no long distance charges. The methods have changed, but, we still are doing the same thing, which is communicating ideas to each other. Whether its our upcoming plans or what has happened in our lives lately, all kinds of information is passing between people.

If you read my posts, I have all kinds of "favorite" verses. My bible has a small listing of them in the front cover, scriptures that have moved me in a certain way and still do. Micah 6:8, Philippians 4:12, Isaiah 43:25 (thanks to Pastor Steve for that one), Megan's recent post about being an olive tree flourishing in the house of the Lord, that is a new fave. I have many others. I can remember going to Christian concerts and meeting the bands later on, their autographs almost always were accompanied by a verse. God puts His word in our hearts and sometimes they mean more to us at a certain time and sink deep and we never forget those passages. 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 is another section that has always meant so much to me from the first time I read it.

"You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 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."

You and I are letters from Christ. Just stop for a moment and think about that. You are a letter from Christ, people are reading what Christ has done in your life. You are communicating His love and His mercy and showing what it means to be His disciple. The tablet of my heart is being written on by Christ Jesus, just as He is writing on yours. How awesome is that? Amazing. I cannot fully grasp that honor, but I know it is true, I know that my life in Christ is meant as a testimony to Him living in me. Welcome to the book of 1st Robolonians.

As wonderful as this is, I also cringe sometimes, thinking about some of my chapters that aren't too flattering. There were some times in my life where I have made some major sinful moves. Pages I wish I could erase. Paragraphs that I never thought my life would communicate. If you were reading my life as the letter it is, I might say, "Hey, you will want to skip chapter 3, chapter 4 is much better". I would flip some pages, try to mark them out so you wouldn't see them. I've done some stupid things.

Then I think about it. The gospel, this whole relationship that we are in is the story of redemption. To be saved is to see that we were lost. I can look back at those chapters, as much as I want to remove them, and see where God loved me and needed me and never let me go. I can see forgiveness.....I can see that God has done wonderful things in my life when I wasn't doing wonderful things. Isn't that what God wants us to see, and wants others to see? I can see where He was so powerful in my weaknesses and, like Paul, I can brag on the one who saved me, who went out searching for me in the darkest times. Those pages that I wish to erase speak volumes. And I can tell you this, I still have blank pages. My next chapters are yet to be written. So are yours.

Jason, Megan, Drew, Jessica, Chryssa, Pastor Homer, Leanna, Andrew, Sloane, Dakota, Jacob and whoever else I missed, your lives are letters with chapters that are unfinished. Let God speak the volumes of His love in your life, and show how that love turned you around to live in His power as a disciple. That moves people.