Devotions
What story are you writing?
You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men – 2Corinthians 3:2 (NKJV)
I like to draw things, mostly when I’m bored
with routine work at my workplace, or when I am in those meetings we all attend
where you have no role to play other than sit there and listen. Some of my
drawings are pretty that sometimes I want to keep them, others though, are so
ugly because I drew over them over and over that I don’t even want to look at
them twice. I always use a pencil to erase the ugly part later if more space is
needed. In some cases, they are almost completely erased, but usually they are
not and leave undeniable marks on the papers. So one day, a colleague, an old
fellow in his seventies, saw me trying to erase things and approached me and
said, “why are you erasing them? This is who you are; it is your CV.” I was
startled by what he said, his words struck me deep and left me thinking. And it
is true; we are what we do, our actions are our CV, it is a letter read by
everyone.
When the Apostle Paul wrote the above verse to
the Corinthians, he was telling them, “you are our work, everyone who sees you
will judge if we did well or failed.” People judge us from what we do, not from
what we say or think. Our good intentions or sugary speeches are meaningless.
Our actions are like an open book and say loud what is inside us. Though some
people may hide their evil hearts behind good acts, it is not generally the
case. Like a fruit tells the story of the tree, our actions reveal or tell our
story. And our drawing papers are the hearts of the people. Whatever our
actions are, we are writing in the lives of our children, our spouses, our
community and the people we meet every day. Some of our drawings will leave a
lasting impact that cannot be erased. Though we have the gift of repentance
through the blood of the Lamb, repentance will give us a chance to a new start
but will not take away the consequences of our actions. Yes, we still have a
chance, even when we have messed up a hundred times. But again, as the Bible
encourages us, we ’don’t use that grace as an excuse to do whatever our sinful
nature dictates us to do.
While attending a friend’s wedding some years
ago, a friend of the married couple gave them a blank book as their wedding
gift. He told them that it was to be their storybook, where they would write
their story the way they want it. Like that couple, every day, we are given a
blank page to write our story. Make sure you pay attention to what you write
and how you write it. Most of our actions cannot be undone, and you cannot
unsay what you said. No matter how hard I tried to erase the ugly things I had written,
the paper did not go back to the initial state. It was stained for life. I’m
reminded of how Esau lost his birthright. He thought it was a joke, but the
Bible says that later when he wanted to recover it, he could not even though he
tried with much begging and tears; he could not change what he had done
(Hebrews 12:16-17). This day is a gift of a blank book from God to write your
story. Whether you live one day, hundred or thousand days, make up your mind to
write a story that you will not be ashamed of, a story that you will not want
to later delete, because once done, it cannot be undone. However, the truth is
that without Jesus, we can do nothing. It’s only through him that we have the
wisdom and the will to achieve that goal.
Posted : Mar 23, 2026