| John 20:30 – “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” |
What’s the most fascinating letter you ever received?
I can tell you of one.
One year, Vickie and I were going to Bible Teachers Worship in Abilene.
I had sent reservations for somewhere to stay on campus. And I never heard.
I called and they said, “we mailed your confirmation 3 weeks ago.” We waited but nothing.
Now for this to make sense, you need to realize I lived in two towns called Santa Fe. The one in New Mexico and the one on the Gulf Coast of Texas, our current residence at that time.
Time passed. We went to workshop, returned and never thought much about the lost letter…until it arrived 2 years later.
It seems that it had been sent to Rancho Santa Fe, California and then to Santa Fe, NM and finally, it made its way to our home far after the event had been forgotten.
But this letter story rivals almost anything I have ever heard.
There was a time when there was no security for mail. The only way to prevent a letter from being opened was to fold it in a secret way. It was called letter locking
300 years ago, a Frenchman sent a letter to his cousin. But somehow, that letter was not received. It was written in 1695. Somehow it was locked up in a trunk owned by a postmaster at the time. No one had read it until this year. Using special technology, the contents were read. It was a letter describing the death of a mutual friend.
Imagine, a letter never read.
When John wrote his gospel, he described Jesus, the Christ. He wrote profoundly and simply at the same time. In it, he describes his reasons.
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30–31, ESV)
He wrote a letter in a sense to all mankind. He did not lock that letter but intended for all to read it. The tragedy for so many lives is that it remains unread and unheeded.
God left us what he wants us to know. Will we read the letter?
Robert G. Taylor
robertgtaylor.com
