Letters – Being a Pilgrim

“The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our hearts; everyone can read it and recognise our good work among you. Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.”
2 Corinthians 3:2-3 NLT

Paul made a reference to the original tablets of stone, given to Moses so many years before. To say something is “carved in stone” indicates that it is there forever. Such a declaration is said to be irrevocable and unchangeable. The most common use of stone these days for written statements is found in a graveyard, where a stone plaque is erected over a place where someone is buried. Sometimes it is fascinating to visit a cemetery and read the inscriptions that can be found there. Not just the name and dates, but often an additional one-line anecdote is included, which provides a little more information about the person interred below. Some inscriptions are frivolous, others are more representative of the dead person’s life. But a good one for Paul, who wrote this epistle, comes from 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”. In all of this, however, the point is that things written on stone cannot be changed very easily. Ask any gravestone engraver.

Paul referred to the Corinthians being a “letter from Christ showing the result of [his] ministry among [them]”. That’s a faith statement on his part, considering the problems with issues such as immorality that the fellowship of believers there were having. Paul then went further to describe this letter as being written on the hearts of the believers with the “Spirit of the living God”. And it was “carved”, not written with pen and ink. The picture in all of this is of a well-established and faithful group of believers, following the teachings of Paul in the ways of Christ.

So what is the “human heart”? In the way Paul meant, it is not the pump within us that ensures our blood is distributed throughout our bodies. The Bible refers to it as the core of our being, encompassing emotions, thoughts, and will. It is that spiritual part of us that can feel and express our thoughts and emotions. It is in our hearts that we love and grieve, feeling emotions of happiness, joy, and sadness, and it is where we will find our consciences that direct so much of our lives. We can also find in our hearts thoughts of evil and wickedness that can lead to sin. So we have to be careful in matters of the heart. Jeremiah wrote, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9). And so it is with an unredeemed heart, corrupted by sin and leading its owner on the broad way that leads to destruction.

To the Israelites, Ezekiel delivered a message of deliverance, a promise that we find in Ezekiel 36:25, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols”. And he followed this verse with, “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart”. That is the sort of heart that Paul expected to see in his Corinthian converts, and is the one that we pilgrims have within us. In our lives, however, we must constantly look after our hearts. We find good advice in Proverbs 4:23, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life”. Just in the previous chapter, we find, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).

What message would God find written on our hearts? Would it be a Spirit-filled message of what God has done for us, our hearts throbbing with praise and worship to God? Or something else? But I know what should be found there, and we pilgrims keep our hearts pure and undefiled by sin, as we read God’s Word and follow in obedience His ways.

Dear Heavenly Father. When we believed in Jesus, You gave us a new heart. A heart redeemed and set free from the shackles of sin and evil that used to reside there. Please help us to keep our hearts pure and compliant, always focused towards You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.“
‭Ephesians‬ ‭1:1-2‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬

The first verse in the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians contains much information. Paul starts by claiming his apostleship – the account of his conversion from a Christian hunter and persecutor to a Christian maker and lover on the Damascus road can be read in Acts 9 and 22. History records Paul’s credentials as an apostle. The verse continues with a description of who the epistle, the letter, is addressed to. It wasn’t to everyone – just “God’s holy people”. Credentials describing those who faithfully followed Jesus. And because of the God-credentials of both the writer and the reader, God’s blessings of grace and peace in the second verse can be uttered and received, real and true.

What are my letter-writing credentials in life? In writing a similar letter to someone, how would I describe myself? Something like, “Fred, the husband of Chloe” or “John, the accountant in London”? Or perhaps something with spiritual weight, such as, “Matt, a believer in Jesus”? But how we describe ourselves, who we are and what we claim, will impact the receiver of our letter. Often, our self-description can be at odds with our behaviour though. Hmmm…

Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church would have been read out in a public meeting. And what a letter it was. The grace and love of God dripping through every stroke of his pen. And this epistle is read and re-read today, fresh and real, because of the credentials of the writer, Paul. A servant of God; a life dedicated to His service.

In our pilgrimage through life, we need letters. Epistles of encouragement, correction, guidance. Biblical accounts and passages that we can always refer to because God is in them. Step by step we can hear God’s voice, providing for us all we need. There is a man near me who lost his son to multiple sclerosis 30 or so years ago, and just last week he had to have his dog put to sleep because of an incurable spinal condition. And he is devastated by grief. The death of his son is still raw many years later and now the loss of his wee dog, who was like another son to him, has opened up all the old wounds. A pilgrim without the comfort and presence of God facing into the realities of life alone, uncomforted. And he has rejected the One Person who is able to help him. He needs a Letter, God Himself, to bring peace to his soul.

What do I need today? What do you need today? Whatever it is, there is a Letter written by the Creator of the Universe. Jesus came as God’s Word bringing the solution to all our worldly dilemmas and assuring us a future with the Letter Writer Himself. John 1:1-5 reads, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” What a Letter Jesus is. His credentials are indisputable. Irrefutable. Eternal. And His letter is written just for you and me.