* A Letter

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
2nd Corinthians 3:5-6 NKJV

I have a hard time reading contracts. All the legalese drives me to distraction. To me, it's a perfect illustration of our text for today regarding the letter kills. I'm sure glad I don't do it on a full-time basis. I'm not saying contracts aren't important - they are for many reasons - but sometimes contracts or more precisely, contract disputes kill a "guaranteed" project. The client has the work they need done, and you are qualified and trained to do that work, and they want you to do the work, and you want to do their work. Sounds like a perfect solution, right? Unless you can't agree on the contract terms - all the what-ifs and contingencies, etc.

The legal eagles on both sides will argue the letter of the law, the literal letter - an S or not an S - sometimes to the death. But once in a while, there's a champion who can come in and breathe life back into the contract, based on the compatibility of needs with the ability to meet those needs - the spirit of it, if you will - and the champion convinces the two parts to drop the letter of the law (or at least provide a little grace for it.)

What's in one letter that would make that much difference? Well, I'll show you just a few sample pairings.

Change - Chance;   Aspiring - Aspirin:   Wise - Vise;  

And if you leave a letter out, it can be devastating.

Life - Lie;

And satan is banking on it; his lies are subtle. he knows the Word well enough to mess with it. Do you know it well enough to counter his lies with the life that's in the Word? Here, take a letter.

Prayer:

Father,
          Teach us to walk in Your Spirit so that we don't fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Help us to know when to fight to the death of something and when to pray for life to be breathed back in it. But Father, may it always be Your breath that brings it to life, and not our own. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen