THE FIFTH GOSPEL How many Gospels portray the life of Jesus? There are four. Written long ago, they can easily be read by Christians or non-Christians. But there is a fifth Gospel as well. It is read by everyone who sees it. It is your life and mine. It is the daily life of a Christian lived out before his or her family, friends or the world. Notice verse 3: "You are a letter from Christ, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." What is a letter? It is a communication written by one person to another. In our case, it is from Christ to the world. Our hearts are the stationery, the prepared material, on which Christ is writing to the world. A letter is usually typical of the writer. Often we can recognize the handwriting even before we open the envelope. Similarly, how long does it take for someone to recognize that we belong to Jesus Christ? A letter carries the signature of the writer. Generally it is next to a greeting or an expression of love. Isn't that the message that Christ wants to convey to the world through us - that He loves the World and gave His life for it? Sometimes we receive a letter which is very difficult to read. The writing may be blurred. It may be blotted. Something may have been spilled on it. Those are the first things we notice when we open a letter. In the same way, our faults and blemishes are always easily seen. They are blots on Christ's letter to the world. What does the letter of your life or my life look like? 1 John 1:9 tells us that our lives can be cleansed day by day so that Christ's love letters to the world can be easily read by all who see them. HOW DOES CHRIST'S LETTER THROUGH YOU REALLY LOOK LIKE TODAY? |
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