Daily Journal: 30 July

Letters of Recommendation

Letters of recommendation are important when authenticity is sought. A letter of recommendation establishes character and is a testament to the person being written about.

We are Christ’s letter of recommendation, walking around. We are a living, breathing witness that demonstrates His nature and character. Our alignment needs to be clear and true.

2 Corinthians 3:3 (GWT)

It’s clear that you are Christ’s letter, written as a result of our ministry. You are a letter written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, a letter written not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

What happens when a letter of recommendation is proven to be false? Both the writer of the letter and the character of the person being recommended are seen as untrustworthy. They are both open to judgment.

The bible warns against this, specifically in James, 2 Peter 2 and Romans 2.

Our recommendation and testament of Christ is borne out of our convicted heart. We want to follow Jesus Christ as our role model and live the way the bible teaches. Failing to do so breeds hypocrisy and is a serious offense to God because it can repel people away from His saving grace, rather than towards Him.

We’ve all failed in this way. However, when we receive God’s conviction in our hearts, which fills our hearts and our minds with Christ’s attributes, we are better able to be that walking letter of recommendation He so needs us to be.

We cannot do this in our own abilities. We need to actively engage in relationship with the Holy Spirit so He can be at work and fruitful in our lives.

2 Corinthians 3:4-6 (NLT)

We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.

I pray that we will rely on the Holy Spirit to help us be that pure testament for Christ today.