Our Competence Comes From God

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 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 hearts.

Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

2 Corinthians 3:1-11

Do you remember when your parents read to you from the Bible? Did you focus on the words, or the pretty pictures of Jesus? Probably the pictures. They always told the story of Jesus.

If someone were to write a book about you, complete with pictures, how would it look, and read? Our lives do indeed tell a story. In every situation, people around us are watching and listening to the story we are about to tell.

Our children and grand-children are always there. Our spouses are there as well. Everyone is watching to see if the story we are telling matching what we are doing.

Whatever you do, do it with confidence that you are real and that you know what is right and wrong.

What is the story of those around you? Are there stories of forgiveness? Compassion? Generosity? Patience? Love?

If you have experienced the joy of a grace-filled life that comes from the Spirit of God in you, then welcome to the joy of being one of God’s great storytellers.

Let your life tell the story of Christ’s love and mercy to the world around you.

Our Daily Bread – January 26, 2013