Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Augustine
Special Delivery
Have you heard the story of a man who was too shy to speak to a girl he loved, so he sent her love letters in the mail every day, but the girl ended up marrying the postal carrier? It seems strange to me that God sent the greatest love letter ever written to mankind, yet many don’t even take the time to open and read it. If you were dating a girl you claimed you loved yet never opened or read her letters or rarely did, how do you think she’d feel? You probably already know the answer to that. God loved us enough to not leave us on our own but sent us all that we’ll ever need to know. These are letters written by the very hand of God (2 Tim. 3:16), sent from our future home that we’re headed to: heaven. Why not read them?
His Greatest Love Letter
The Gospel of John is my favorite, for this gospel shows the divinity of Christ (John 1) and His willingness to die for those who were still His enemies (Rom. 5:10). God sent this letter to tell us “I love you so much that I died for you (John 3:16); I will keep you (John 6:39); I will not turn you away (John 6:37); I will preserve you in My hand and in My Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29), and that “the reason I caused the Apostle John to write this book is that by believing in Me, you will have eternal life” (John 20:31). Is there anything more powerful in all of the Scriptures than to substitute a perfect life for those who are imperfect, giving us what we don’t deserve (called grace) and withholding what we do deserve (called mercy)?
I’m Coming for You
Jesus wrote that since “I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going” (John 14:3-4). As if to reassure the disciples, He says again, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18) and that “if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). So He is saying to us, too, that “I am coming again to take you into the kingdom. Don’t despair. I sent you a special delivery letter to tell you that I have a scheduled pickup, taking you with me into an eternal kingdom that will have no end.” That is why Augustine said that the Holy Scriptures are our letters from home, because this is not our home; we are only passing through.
Conclusion
What encouragement we should receive from the Word of God. He sent this special letter to us to show us that He loves us enough to die for us, that we need to be reading and re-reading His letter, and that He has a scheduled pickup to take us with Him to a place that cannot even be described by words (Rev. 21, 22). Is it any wonder then that the gospel is called the “good news,” for it is the greatest news that has ever been or will be delivered.
