The Letter part 1
So we've been talking about the Three T's, right? Time, Talent, Treasure. The way that we express love to each other. Giving what we have, and who we are, to each other. I want to continue on with that theme for the next few days. And I want to use 2 Corinthians 3:2 in the Message Bible as my key memory verse, "You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you." And before I get into the what the letter says, I want to spend some time on the truth that people read us all day every day. Whenever I hear someone say, "Don't judge me," I just chuckle. Because we judge everything. Everything. The trick is not to "not judge." The trick is to see the sense in John 7:24 when Jesus said, "Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." There's no way to not judge. The trick is to judge rightly. Righteously. To understand that there is more going on than just what we see. There's an old saying that goes like this, "Everybody is fighting a battle that you know nothing about, so be kind." To me, it's really that simple. And, I just want to say, you don't NEED the whole story. You don't NEED to be invasive and be in somebody's business. It's enough to get to the place where we don't want to--or feel the need to--slam people for every little thing they do. We can give people grace without knowing the specifics of why they need it. We can be kind regardless. And, when we come at it from that angle... we will be showing people who God is, by showing people who we really are. People--who ARE judging us--will see that kindness. They will be able to read our letter, and what we're all about. That's always been pretty easy for me. I can generally size people up pretty well. Because I don't come in with preconceived notions. I just take things as they are. What I'm trying to say today, and will be trying to say for the next few days, is that no matter what we see (or don't see) in people... we ought not to judge them by appearance. We ought to judge righteous judgment. The righteous judgment of God that was meted out on the cross. And it wasn't a death sentence. It was a life sentence. MEN killed Jesus. GOD brought Him back to life. That was His judgment. An eternal, everlasting, abundant life sentence. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. That's the judgment that was rendered. And that's what we have. So that's what we can give. You can't give what you don't have, and you can only give what you do have. So stop trying so hard to write your letter. In the KJV 2 Corinthians 3:2 reads, "Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men." Written in the heart. What's in the heart? Love. Who could write on, or IN, our hearts? The God who IS love. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the one who has written, and is continuing to write, the letter. What am I trying to say here? That we are God's love letter to the world. He WANTS people to read our lives. To see what we're all about. To see the love inside coming out. So that people will see HIM in our lives. So that people will stop looking for love in all the wrong places and just come straight to the source!