YOU ARE AN OPEN BOOK

Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart (2 Corinthians 3:1-3 New King James Version).

As Christians, we are living examples of Jesus Christ. How we behave, how we speak, what we engage in, our passions, our ministries, our attitudes when we take care of daily errands, how we view our jobs…all of these reflect Christ in our lives. Sadly, there are people who interact with Christians every day who don’t know these people are Christians because because Christ is not reflected in their actions or words. Church, we cannot just be holy on Sunday, or when we set foot in our respective churches. We cannot say we love and follow Jesus if He’s not reflected in our daily lives. We cannot walk with one foot in this world and the other in the spiritual realm, sooner or later we will trip and fall unless we purpose in our hearts to step fully across the line to stay on the heavenly side.

Every day we encounter non-believers, lost, hurting, and broken people. When we say we are Christian but don’t reflect the attitude of Christ, they pick up on it. Our expressions, body language, word choices, attitudes, conversation topics…all of what we do is an open book and non-believers are studying us, hard. We cannot say one thing yet act the opposite. We cannot behave one way when outside the church walls and then another inside. Where in the Bible did Jesus do that? Non-believers all over are being turned off by what they see in some “Christians”. If we want to bring people to the Lord, we have to live as though we are serious about being called by His name. When we give ourselves fully to Him, allowing Him to be Lord over our lives, we can’t help but mirror Him!

Church, it’s time to rise up and move beyond personal hypocrisy. Repent of your lukewarm, sitting on the fence attitude, plant your feet firmly on the side of Jesus and get going.

Let’s Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for this wonderful day; we are so blessed that You woke us up this morning and we are able to hear, read, and study Your word in whatever capacity You have given us! Feed us, O Lord, from Your bountiful table; give us drink from Your fountain! You are holy, righteous, faithful, mighty, wonderful, highly exalted and worthy, so worthy, of our praise! Father, we stand before You today ask for Your forgiveness. Our actions and attitudes have not been reflective of Jesus Christ, and we have been lukewarm in our behavior towards You. Forgive us Lord, for this attitude and we ask that You strengthen us to remove ourselves from this world, to die to ourselves and to place both feet in Your sheepfold. Lord, we want others to see You in us, we want to be a book that is read and cherished and passed on to others. We want Your light to be so bright within us that the devil is blinded, threatened and confused when we approach. We know that we cannot attain this on our own, and we don’t desire any glory or honor, we just give ourselves to You as vessels available for Your use. Clean us, purge us, mold us…do whatever You have to do to make us ready. We want Your will, not our own. We love You and we pray that You accept the sacrifices of praise we offer up and that our worship is a sweet smelling fragrance. We bow before Your throne, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Today’s Attitude of Worship: Remember that no matter what happens to you today, you are an open book with Jesus Christ’s name on the cover. As I used to tell my children when I let them go with friends, “You are reflections of your parents when we are not physically with you. Act accordingly.” As children of God, we need to behave accordingly.

Additional Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 3:4-6; Galations 5:22-23; Ephesians 5:8-10; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Galations 2:20