Disciple Making—Letters Across Generations

Each of us, as we walk alongside of others, write on each other’s hearts.

2 Cor 3:1-4

Whose heart are you writing on, and whose life are you allowing to write on your heart, so that they and you may be more like Christ?

I came across some letters my dad’s mother wrote to him when he enlisted in the Army in 1940 and was doing training in Edinburgh with an armoured unit. The letters contained the usual things—did you get there safely? How are you settling in? What was happening at home. A mother’s concern that her son stay safe and her love. A snapshot in time of their relationship as mother and son. She was writing on his heart.

Each of us, as we walk alongside of others, write on each other’s hearts. We become letters, bearing the marks of those who impact our lives. As Paul writes to the Corinthian church, he talks about them as being his letters—his love, wisdom, care, counsel and teaching have written upon them, and they have written upon Paul’s heart:

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on the tablet of human hearts (2 Cor 3:2-3 NIV)

Disciple making is the journey of intentionally, prayerfully and lovingly writing Christ on the hearts of others. It is why Paul said to the Corinthians, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1). He was modelling the gospel, opening his life to scrutiny, and showing how he was putting Christ’s way into action.

Whose heart are you writing on and whose life are you allowing to write on your heart, so that they and you may be more like Christ? Take a moment to thank God for the people who have written on your heart. Ask the Lord to show you those whose hearts you can write on. And be courageous and invite them to follow your example as you follow Christ.

God bless

Pastor Stephen