What do people see when they look at us? Scripture tells us that we are God’s workmanship, His masterpiece, His poem (Ephesians 2:10). We are God’s letters of recommendation. But how do those around us actually see us? Would we be described as a masterpiece, an intriguing story, to be read and told to others? Or would we be depicted as a rough draft, as a ‘piece of work’, to be discarded in a recycle bin?

The first-century church in Corinth, like many of us, was sending mixed messages. The Apostle Paul reminded this church of:

• The means God uses for communicating His message
• The medium God uses for recording His message
• The resulting effects of beholding His message

Paul’s instructions were left for us today, that we might be letters of recommendation to the world around us.

The means God uses for communicating His message

What means do we use to hear from God? Many of us hear from God through bible devotions, Christian books, journaling, memorizing scripture, and bible apps. We can distinctively hear from God through His word (Psalm 119:105, 2 Timothy 3:16). We find God’s word alone to be living and active (Hebrews 4:12).

But by what means does God use… to communicate to us? According to Paul, we are a letter… written not with ink, but with the Spirit of God… not of the letter, but of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:2-6). God communicates to us, not through the letter (i.e. grammar, words, scripture, books, epistles), but through the Spirit.

Is it possible we are mistaking the means for the end? Jesus warned the Pharisees of searching the scriptures, but failing to see who the scriptures pointed to (John 5:39-40). Elsewhere, Paul warns of those who are always learning, but never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:7). Is our end goal to know scripture? To be proficient with the gospel? To practice correct biblical doctrine? Or is our end goal to communicate with God? To have communion with God’s Spirit?

Paul says such is the confidence we have… not of the letter, but of the Spirit. The Spirit is who gives us confidence in our relationship with God (Romans 8:16, 1 John 4:13), not our knowledge, our understanding, our biblical doctrine. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:4-6). The Spirit is the means God uses to communicate His message.

The medium God uses for recording His message

What medium do we use for recording God’s message? Perhaps we use our bible margins, our journals, our memories, our phones, the cloud, etc. But what medium does God use… for recording His message?

Paul writes, “You yourselves are our letter of recommendation written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ written not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:2-3). God writes his message on our hearts.

Why would God choose the human heart? No canvas is more contaminated, no backdrop more corrupt (Matthew 15:19). No environment is more fragile, with no storage more transient (Jeremiah 17:9). Yet God chooses to write his masterpiece in the most volatile of habitats, the human heart.

When the bible refers to the heart, it is referring to more than the organ. It is referring to the thoughts, feelings, middle, center; the entire mental and moral activity, including the emotions, reason, and will; the hidden springs of the personal life (Proverbs 4:23). God chooses to pen his poem on the medium of our hearts.

When hearing God’s message, where are we storing it? In our memory, in our thought life, in our journals, in the margins of our bible? Or do we allow God’s Spirit to inscribe his message into our hearts, our wants, our desires, our will? God wants more than our bodies, our obedience, our intellectual agreement. God wants the hidden springs of our personal life. Does our heart belong to God today? The heart is the medium God uses for recording His message.

The resulting effects of beholding His message

When we turn to the Lord, through the Spirit, in our hearts, the veil is removed and we experience freedom (2 Corinthians 3:16-17). We are freed from condemnation, guilt, shame, judgment, selfish desire, restlessness, and wantonness. We are feed to a new life provided by God, with patience and quietness of soul, being fully satisfied with the presence of God. Have we been liberated by this freedom today?

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18). Beholding refers to a prolonged gaze, not a quick glance, as to something remarkable with wide-open eyes. Where are we looking today? Are we looking on our phones, at social media, to relationships, to our careers, for approval, for success? The old hymn says,

Turn your eyes upon Jesus... 
Look full in His wonderful face... 
And the things of this earth will grow strangely dim... 
In the light of His glory and grace...

Are we beholding His glory, today? If the light is not getting through, it is because you are not looking at Him long enough. You do the beholding. He does the transforming. There is no short-cut. This comes from the Lord, who is Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Letters of recommendation

What will people read when they look at us as Christians? Will they see someone whose communicating with God’s Spirit? Someone whose heart is filled with His divine presence? Someone whose face is beholding the glory of God? Will they see someone being transformed… to reflect the glory of His image?

We are God’s workmanship… His masterpiece… His poem…

May we be His letters of recommendation… to be known and read by all…