Competence From God

Cassie Kwok, Australia

"Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 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 tablets of human hearts. Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." – 2 Corinthians 3:1-6

devotional

With going through different life stages, e.g. being a university student to working full time or changing ministries, these changes often feel overwhelming, uncertain and scary for me. In these seasons of transition in my life, there are endless situations where I find myself having to make decisions. I am honestly the worst decision maker (I struggle to even decide what to get when I go out to eat!). And so, I’ve realised that my decisions tend to be made based on what others would approve of or out of fear or people pleasing. But none of these reasons are pleasing to God! This insecurity and fear really has held me back from digging deeper into the Bible and what God has to say, stopping me from building deeper convictions and robbing me of the confidence in the Holy Spirit and God’s Word!! I’m definitely still working on this area in my life and I have a long way to go and this scripture has helped me so much while growing in this area.

reflection questions

• What does it mean to be “a letter from Christ.. written with the Spirit of the Living God on tablets of human hearts”?

• What might stop me from being confident, in that my confidence comes from God? And how does this show in my life?

• What does this scripture say we are competent in because of God?

• What truths are in this scripture about our identity in God?

• What’s something you can do today to live out being “competent as ministers of a new covenant?”