Messengers

 "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Isaiah 53:1...."Is your message consistent with who you are as a messenger? With God's people, message and messenger are united." Chris Tiegreen..."We are the Bibles the world is reading." Billy Graham

There's a great deal of difference between information givers and messengers of the heart. I wonder if in the church, we have many more of the former and too few of the latter. Tiegreen writes that "Abraham didn't have a message about faith, he was a man of faith. David didn't just write about worship, he was a worshiper. And Jesus isn't just a message about salvation, He is salvation." It's a hard question,, but it must be asked and answered. Do we embody the truth of the message we seek to give?

People were amazed at the message of truth Jesus brought. It wasn't that the Pharisees hadn't also brought them truth, but they gave it in the form of information. What impacted their hearing and hearts was that when Christ spoke and taught, He did so with authority. "Never did a man speak as this man has spoken" is what was said of Him. He was and is the Word of God come to life. The Living Word. We can be as well and to the fullest extent possible for us. Jesus was what He proclaimed. Are we? If we aren't, then all we do is give information, and information, no matter how true, can never move a heart as can seeing it as a reality in the life of the one who brings the message.

If we speak peace, do we live in it? If we proclaim a message of God's love, do we embody that love? If we preach a message of holiness do we live a life of holiness? If we talk about the security found in Christ, do we live in conscious awareness of that security? Paul said of those that he wrote to that they were 'His letters." He meant that the passionate truth he wrote to them in his messages to the church was meant to be lived out in both the life of the church and the people who comprised it. We too are to be letters from the heart of the Father to not only an unbelieving world, but to the Body of Christ itself. We are the Bibles they read. Are we garbled letters on a page, or finely crafted messages from the heart of the Father?

In this fallen world, and in our imperfect human state, we will never so clearly proclaim His message as did Christ, yet proclaim that message we can. It's to my shame that in too many instances I was too consumed with my own life to really tell His story through mine. Too often I was distracted by what was going on around me or within me. I gave a conflicted message. I talked of how abundant His life was, yet lived a life lacking in that abundance. I spoke of His peace but displayed so little of it in me. I preached on the fiery heat of His love yet lacked His love in my heart. It is my deep desire to be a messenger united with His message. One with it. By His grace, more and more, I will be. What of you? All of us will be a letter of some sort each day. Will we be a letter from His heart, or from the heart of the enemy? Today's letter is already being written. What will yours and mine proclaim?

Blessings,

Pastor O