June 6, 2022

II Corinthians 3: 2, 3 (NIV)

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 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 heart.

The Bible tells us God’s truth is written on the hearts of humans.*

Friends and former employees sometimes give my name as a reference on their résumés. When friends use me as a personal reference, my response is easy because I can speak to their good character and other qualities; however, it is uncomfortable to be asked, “Would you rehire this person?” if the job-seeker is someone that I fired. It is gratifying, then, when I get to say of someone, “If she thinks she can do the job, she can do the job.” 

Paul gave the Corinthian church a good reference, and they in turn provided a testimonial to the effectiveness and authority of Paul’s ministry. What did Paul and the Corinthians do to qualify for their glowing recommendations from each other? For his part, Paul did his job as an apostle which the church at Corinth could verify. The church, in turn, was an example of changed lives – “living epistles”* – providing the credentials to prove Paul’s authenticity.

A hard-copy of a document may be more binding than an email, and when we say that something is written in stone we mean that it is permanent and binding. A letter that is engraved on a human heart may not stand up in court but it is personal and reliable. It is the character reference we would hope for. It is the equivalent of being told, “Keep your paper . . . and show us the changed lives from your ministry.”* Those are our true credentials.

Christian people owe a testimony to Christ. His name has been pronounced over them and all who look at them ought to see His nature.*