Letter

You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all.
2 Corinthians 3:2 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/2co.3.2.ESV

I love this from Paul. I've been in a church where I needed an actual letter of recommendation to be able to take communion. But Paul says the people he ministered to in the Corinthian church were themselves his letter of recommendation.

I didn't get official 'Qualified Teacher Status' after a year. What I did get after a few weeks of teaching was a 'petition' from a class of 11 and 12 year olds asking me to be the head of year 8 (the next year of school). To have these and other students come and say they wished I was teaching them this year means more to me than an official piece of paper would have.

Teachers claim to be teaching for the students. But it can be tempting to teach to impress other teachers/inspectors. Paul wasn't interested in impressing others. He was serving the Lord Jesus Christ by serving His people.

What are we going to have to show for ourselves when we meet Christ? Pieces of paper won't count for much. Lives transformed by the Spirit at work in us will.

'Heavenly Father, may we have people to present to You who we have brought to You, not for our own glory, but for Yours we pray. In Jesus' name, amen'

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