Press the arrow to listen to Kristian Stanfill sing “Jesus Paid it All” as you read today’s devotion on letter writing for Jesus.

Scripture
You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 2 Corinthians 3:2-3

Observation
The greatest counsellor I’ve known never wrote a book. I asked Margaret Belesky to put in a volume her life-changing methods. She declined and instead pointed to the healed marriages and lives rebuilt out of brokenness and said that what had been accomplished in their lives could never be written into a book it could only be recorded on their lives.

Her words reminded me of an episode in my life back in 1986. I was a graduating seminary student in the office of my lead professor. His room needed no paint, for it was floor to ceiling lined with books. He looked at my grades and urged me to go on to an Ivy League school for my PhD and devote my life to scholarship. When I told him of my plans to be a pastor, he said, “Don’t waste your time with preaching, for once the message is spoken it is forgotten. Devote your life to books for they speak long after you are gone.”

I replied, “But don’t our words last forever in a changed human heart?”

There is a letter I write everyday in the hearts of those around me. Just as a letter writer must chose his words carefully, so too, I must select my sentences with care. What I speak will be forgotten but the crater of its impact will last forever.

A pastor is the secretary of God, the people are the stationery and the ink on their hearts are the footprints of the Holy Spirit. The pastor must choose his words carefully, not for eloquence sake, but for eternity. Each day a pastor has the potential of speaking sentences that will echo in heaven, because someone will hear his words, make life change, and enduring alterations to character will outlast this life and make it into the next.

Application
I need to be purposeful in planning what I say, so that the words I speak make a difference. There is so much activity in life that pulls me away from careful reflection. I cannot apologize for quiet moments, for this is part of my call. It is only as I listen that I will have anything to say.

Prayer
Father, today, I ask for sentences to speak that will last forever.