God’s messengers by Claire Musters

This advent I’ve been thinking a lot about God’s messengers – the angel Gabriel, the star that led the way to the stable – even Elizabeth and unborn baby John in her womb, whose reaction to Mary’s pregnancy confirmed they knew just who it was she was going to give birth to. All of this has prompted me to think about the fact that we are all God’s messengers.

Each one of us, through the way we live our lives, are showing those around us a message – is it the good news of Jesus Christ, or something else?

And as writers, whatever type of writing we do, we have the opportunity to reflect something of Jesus in our words. Do our words drip with his grace, mercy and love?

When I write I’m very conscious about the message I’m giving – with Bible study notes and guides you have to be! But I’ve been challenged in recent days to think about whether I’m giving as much thought into the message my life sends to others; particularly how I interact with those without faith.

For example, I recently had a book stall at a church Christmas shopping event. A lot of the school mums I know came, which was wonderful. There was one particular mum there who has really been going through a tough time in her life; she spent time at my stall filling me in on some of the details. As I am not on the school run much anymore, I miss catching up regularly with these women and so it felt like such a privilege to listen to her as she shared her heart.

She watched another friend buy my book Insight into Self-acceptance and commented: ‘Now that’s something I could do with. It’s been a long time since I accepted myself.’ I then spent the rest of the time wrestling with whether to gift it to her or not, as I know it has a lot of information about our identity in Christ. In the end, just before she left, I did place a copy in her hands, offering it up as a gift (which she was overwhelmed by – such a small gesture but one that elicited a huge response). However, as I handed it over, I said: ‘I hope this is helpful – it might have a bit too much God stuff in it for you though.’ 

After she was gone, I was so angry with myself. Why did I apologise? I hadn’t wanted it to alienate her – but actually God could work through my words, to bring his message of hope and life to her. She may read the descriptions of how sure we can be about our identity in Jesus and long for that herself. I was doing him, myself and my words a disservice by feeling the need to add a little waiver to them.

Later on that weekend, I found myself asking afresh: do I trust God to use the words that I write down? Each one of us feels a calling to write, so perhaps it is a question you might need to ask yourself today too…

Claire is a freelance writer, speaker and editor, mum to two gorgeous children, pastor’s wife and worship leader. Her books include Taking off the mask: daring to be the person God created you to be, Cover to Cover: Ezekiel A prophet for all times, Cover to Cover: 1–3 John Walking in the truth, Cover to Cover: David: A man after God's own heart, Insight Into Managing Conflict, Insight Into Self-acceptance and Insight Into Burnout. Her latest edition to the Insight Guides series, An Insight into Shame, was published in May and she is currently writing another Cover to Cover on Exodus, a book of reflections on disappointment and loss as well as a book on marriage alongside her husband. She also writes Bible study notes and magazine articles. To find out more about her, please visit www.clairemusters.com  and @CMusters on Twitter.