From the Office of Readings, 2 Corinthians 2:12-3:6

In Christ, we speak as men of sincerity, as envoys of God and in God’s presence. Does this sound like a new attempt to commend ourselves to you? Unlike other people, we need no letters of recommendation either to you or from you, because you are yourselves our letter, written in our hearts, that anybody can see and read, and it is plain that you are a letter from Christ, drawn up by us, and written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on the tablets of your living hearts.

I write for a living, and I strive to use my work, as in this very post, to glorify and share reflections on God — to build up the kingdom of God. But, Paul reminds me there is nothing I can write, no eloquent words I can summon, that will match acting as a “living letter” in the world.

We can read and memorize Scripture all day — our entire lives. But we are called to live it into the world, to be the hands and feet of Christ in spreading God’s love to a hurting world, so that the world may see Scripture written in our acts, and not just in our words. The work of our hands and feet, our faces and expressions, our hearts, our very lives — all should be a living retelling of the Good News of Christ, “written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on the tablets of your living hearts.”

Almighty God, give us the strength and humility today to be living letters of your Word, spreading your light and love into the darkest corners of this world. Amen.