LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION. 2 Corinthians 3:1-3.

While teaching as an adjunct professor, I applied for a job as a full-time professor. I was required to provide letters of recommendation. I decided to ask two former students, both high achievers who loved my teaching, and had been admitted to the college’s graduate school after I wrote glowing letters on their behalf.

When it comes to teaching, a recommendation from a former student is arguably more meaningful than anything another teacher might say. After all, fellow teachers know me only as (I hope) a cheerful and helpful co-worker, whereas, my former students have actually seen me teach! To put it another way, my students are PROOF of my teaching—their lives are evidence of my work in the classroom. Their LIVES are letters of recommendation.

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul addresses these issues. He knows traveling teachers carry letters to prove their credentials. But he does not.

“Do we need, like some, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves ARE OUR LETTER, written on our hearts, recognized and read by everyone. It is clear that you ARE Christ’s letter, produced by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God—not on stone tablets, but on tablets that are hearts of flesh” 2 Corinthians 3:1-3.

What better evidence is there of a preacher’s ministry than changed lives? Who cares if your church has rockin’ music, great lighting, and fog machines? So what if you run 5,000 on a Sunday? If your Broadway-production-values are siphoning members from small churches in the area, then all you’ve done is injure vital small churches. Where is the value in that?

We must reach the UNCHURCHED. The gospel should SAVE SOULS. Your preaching should CHANGE LIVES, heal families, restore marriages, set the addicted free, and teach the weak and corrupt to live lives of power, integrity, and courage.

The evidence of our ministry should be changed lives. We should make a difference, one person at a time. Whose life can you touch for God’s Kingdom? Whose life is a letter that recommends your ministry?

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