You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men… (2 Cor. 3:2)
Well, that should cause me to pause. What I do as a Christian is seen by others. What sort of representative of Christ am I to the world? Others read me. Not just read my books. They read me. What kind of story do they see there? I hope they see someone covered with God’s grace, someone who is being changed for the better.
Liberty is important to we Americans, and we enjoy a great deal of it, especially when compared with the rest of the world. But while I have liberty (as an American and as a Christian), I must remember again that I am God’s letter to the world, to all men. My liberty must never harm another. Is my example causing someone to stumble? God forbid.
I’m a work in progress, of course. We all are. The Bible says Christians are being changed from glory to glory. It says we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Ah, that is the journey of sanctification. It takes our entire lives. It doesn’t ever stop. And the longer we journey toward the day we will stand in the presence of God and the more we learn about Him and His call upon our lives, the more we realize how little we know about the Almighty.
My study this week in Bible Doctrine is on the Creation of Man (as in “mankind”). Scripture tells us we are made “in the image of God.” Knowing our sinful nature and how many things mankind does that is contrary to a righteous, holy, loving, just, merciful, gracious, forgiving God always made me wonder what that meant. Grudem gives a great definition: The fact that man is in the image of God means that man is like God and represents God. My image in the mirror is “like” me, but it certainly isn’t me. It’s a flat, one-dimensional image or likeness of me. So is mankind in relation to how we are “like” God. And we are here to represent Him to those who don’t know Him.
Oh, Father-God. May I represent You well to the world. May they not see me but Christ in me. May You be glorified in my life, in the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart. Amen.
