Faith in Focus is a weekly reflection on what God has been teaching me throughout the week regarding my faith. Whether it’s personal interactions, reading, or the Sunday sermon, God speaks through it all, and I hope this helps you focus on His mission.
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Sermon Reflection
What if the clearest evidence of Christ’s work in our lives isn’t what we can accomplish, but how Jesus is changing us? In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul points us toward a life written by the Spirit, lived in community, and transformed one degree of glory at a time.
Based on the sermon by James Swanson, Connection Church Sioux Falls, September 27, 2026.
From Veiled Hearts to Unveiled Lives
What if your life is already being read?
Not your resume. Not your accomplishments. Not your social media profile. Your actual life.
People see how you respond when plans fall apart. They notice how you speak about people who aren’t in the room. They see what happens when someone wrongs you, when you’re overlooked, when you fail, and when you have nothing left to prove.
The question isn’t whether people are reading your life. They are.
The question is what they’re reading.
Paul gives us a striking picture of this in 2 Corinthians 3. He tells the Corinthian believers that they’re a letter from Christ, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God on human hearts. [2 Corinthians 3:1-3]
The goal isn’t simply to become people who know more Bible verses, behave better, or appear more religious. The Spirit is doing something deeper. He’s changing who we are so that our lives increasingly point beyond ourselves to Jesus.
James points us to a letter of recommendation example which are meant to establish credibility. Someone applying for a position might ask another person to testify about their character, experience, or qualifications. The letter says, in effect, “You can trust this person.”
Paul turns that idea upside down.
He doesn’t need a traditional recommendation for the Corinthians because their transformed lives are evidence of God’s work through his ministry. Their lives are the letter.
But Paul is careful about whose letter they are.
They aren’t ultimately Paul’s letter. They’re “a letter from Christ,” written by the Spirit of the living God. [2 Corinthians 3:3]
Christian testimony is never ultimately about how impressive the Christian is. It’s about how faithful Christ is.
The strongest recommendation for the gospel isn’t a person who can convince everyone that they have everything together. It’s a person whose life increasingly shows what Jesus does with broken, sinful, ordinary people.
A changed life doesn’t say, “Look how good I am.”
It says, “Look what Jesus is doing.”
The World Behind the Text
Paul’s words come in the middle of a larger discussion about his ministry and the new covenant.
The Corinthian church was familiar with competing claims about authority and credibility. Paul responds by pointing away from credentials and toward transformed people. His confidence isn’t rooted in his own ability.
It comes from God.
Paul writes that his sufficiency is from God and that God has made him a minister of a new covenant, “not of the letter but of the Spirit.” [2 Corinthians 3:5-6]
Paul isn’t arguing that Scripture is bad, unnecessary, or something Christians should replace with vague spiritual impressions. The passage is contrasting the ministry of the old covenant, particularly the law written on stone, with the new covenant ministry of the Spirit.
The law reveals God’s holiness and exposes human sin. It shows us what righteousness looks like while also revealing our inability to produce that righteousness ourselves. As Paul explains elsewhere, the law brings knowledge of sin. [Romans 3:19-20]
The problem isn’t that God’s law is defective. The problem is that sinful human beings can’t transform their own hearts simply by being given commands.
The new covenant brings something greater. God doesn’t merely tell his people what righteousness looks like. Through the Spirit, he works within them.
The prophet Ezekiel anticipated this promise, describing God giving his people a new heart and putting his Spirit within them so that they would walk in his ways. [Ezekiel 36:26-27]
The gospel therefore isn’t simply an invitation to try harder.
It’s an announcement that God has acted in Christ and continues his transforming work through the Spirit.
Walking the Passage
The passage begins with living letters, but it eventually arrives at unveiled faces.
Paul moves from recommendation letters to the Spirit’s work in the heart, from the glory of Moses to the greater glory of the new covenant, and finally to the transformation of believers into the image of Christ. [2 Corinthians 3]
God writes.
We are read.
Christ is revealed.
And the Spirit transforms.
That means Christian growth can’t ultimately be reduced to behavior modification.
We can change behavior without changing our hearts.
We can look calm while remaining furious inside. We can serve while secretly craving recognition. We can know enormous amounts about Scripture while using that knowledge primarily to win arguments or make ourselves feel superior.
External behavior can be rearranged without the heart being surrendered to Christ.
The Spirit goes deeper.
He exposes pride, fear, envy, unbelief, resentment, and the places where we resist God’s authority. He doesn’t simply make us better at hiding those things. He brings them into the light so that we can turn to Jesus.
That’s why Paul can say that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [2 Corinthians 3:17]
Christian freedom isn’t freedom to become whatever we want.
It’s freedom from the condemnation and bondage of sin and freedom to live for Christ.
And that freedom is connected to transformation.
Paul says that believers are being transformed into the same image, “from one degree of glory to another.” [2 Corinthians 3:18]
One degree.
Then another.
Then another.
That‘s both encouraging and humbling.
We often want instant transformation. God frequently gives us faithful transformation.
A Fair Counter-Reading
There’s a danger in reading this passage as though every visible change in a Christian’s life is automatically proof of spiritual maturity.
People can perform religious behavior for many reasons. Fear, pride, reputation, social pressure, and the desire for approval can all produce outward conformity.
Likewise, a struggling Christian shouldn’t assume that difficulty, weakness, or slow growth means the Spirit is absent.
Paul’s picture isn’t of Christians who have arrived. It’s of people who are being transformed.
The emphasis falls on God’s work, not our performance.
The Christian life is therefore neither passive indifference nor frantic self improvement. It’s dependent participation in the work God is doing through Christ and by His Spirit.
We pray. We confess. We listen. We receive correction. We study Scripture. We gather with God’s people. We obey.
But we don’t manufacture spiritual life.
Our sufficiency is from God.
The Turn
The passage eventually asks us to look beneath our behavior and examine what might be covering our vision.
Paul uses the image of a veil. He describes people who can read the Scriptures while remaining unable to recognize their fulfillment in Christ. The veil is removed when a person turns to the Lord. [2 Corinthians 3:14-16]
What if the thing blocking our vision is pride?
What if it’s pain?
What if disappointment with God has quietly become a conviction that he’s absent or unloving?
What if resentment has made mercy feel impossible?
What if familiarity with the Bible has become so routine that we’ve forgotten to look for Christ in its pages?
None of these questions should be used to shame people who’re hurting. Pain is real, and Scripture doesn’t ask us to pretend otherwise. But pain can become a barrier when we allow suffering to define what we believe about God’s character.
Turning to Jesus means bringing those things into his presence.
Not hiding them.
Not polishing them.
Not pretending.
Bringing them.
Sometimes the first step is confession. Sometimes it’s forgiving someone. Sometimes it’s asking a trusted Christian for help. Sometimes it’s simply praying, “Lord, show me what I can’t see.”
The Spirit doesn’t free us by teaching us how to become self sufficient.
He frees us by teaching us to stop pretending that we are.
Carry It Into the Week
If our lives are living letters from Christ, then every ordinary interaction becomes an opportunity to display something about Jesus.
How do we speak when we’re stressed?
How do we treat people who have less authority than we do?
How do we respond when someone corrects us?
What happens when we’re ignored?
Do our relationships show forgiveness?
Do they show compassion?
Do they hold truth and grace together?
These questions are especially important because Christianity was never designed to be lived alone.
A living letter needs to be seen, read, and shared.
That’s part of why the local church is so important. Connection Church describes its Gospel Communities as places where believers live life together, extend grace, practice the “one anothers” of Scripture, study God’s Word, and apply the gospel to everyday life.
Community gives other people access to our lives, and that can be extremely uncomfortable.
We need people who know us well enough to ask difficult questions.
How’re you experiencing me in your life?
Where do you see Christ growing me?
Where do you see me resisting him?
Those questions can hurt.
They can also become instruments of grace.
The goal isn’t to become impressive Christians who’ve mastered religious behavior. The goal is to become people increasingly shaped by Jesus.
And that requires attention.
What gets most of your attention during the week will shape your thoughts, desires, and reactions. Constant outrage can make us harsher. Comparison can make us dissatisfied. Endless entertainment can dull spiritual hunger. Work can become an identity. Even Bible knowledge can become a substitute for knowing Christ if we’re not careful.
But there’s good news.
Transformation is promised.
Paul tells the Philippians that the God who began a good work in his people will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. [Philippians 1:6]
We’re not finished. Neither is God.
The Christian life is a process of becoming more like Jesus as we behold his glory and depend upon his Spirit. The destination isn’t merely improved behavior. It’s Christlikeness.
And one day, the process will be complete.
The veil will be gone.
Faith will become sight.
The One we’ve spent our lives learning to love will be seen face to face.
Until then, we keep turning toward Jesus.
We keep confessing.
We keep receiving correction.
We keep gathering with his people.
We keep opening Scripture to see Christ.
We keep depending on the Spirit.
And we keep becoming living letters.
Because someone is reading your life.
May what they read point them to Jesus.
Song of the Week: What Grace Can Do - Cochren & Co.
I had the pleasure of seeing this week’s Song of the Week performed live at LifeLight this summer when Cochren & Co. graced the stage. But even beyond the experience of hearing it live, “What Grace Can Do” has become one of my favorite songs of the year.
LifeLight 2026 Showed the True Meaning of Worshiping Through the Storm
Labor Day weekend means different things to different people. For some, it’s a three day weekend spent camping. For others, it’s a chance to sleep in, relax, or squeeze in one last summer adventure before fall officially arrives. But for thousands …
The song immediately calls me back to one of the most beautiful pictures of grace we find in Scripture with the parable of the prodigal son.
The son had wandered. He’d taken what he thought he wanted and left his father behind. He found himself broken, empty, and eventually realized that home was where he needed to be. So he turned around and headed back.
But what happened when the father saw him?
Luke 15:20 says, “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”
He ran.
The father didn’t stand on the porch with his arms crossed waiting for his son to crawl back and beg for forgiveness. He didn’t make him prove that he was sorry enough. He didn’t demand that he clean himself up before coming home. When he saw his son returning, he ran to him.
That’s the picture of grace.
And that’s what makes the Gospel so beautiful.
We can sometimes convince ourselves that we’ve wandered too far. Maybe we’ve made too many mistakes. Maybe we’ve spent too much time running from God. Maybe we’ve believed the lie that we need to get our lives together before we can come to Jesus.
But the Gospel tells us something completely different.
Jesus doesn’t wait for us to become perfect before He saves us. We can’t become perfect on our own. That’s why we need Him.
Romans 5:8 says, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
While we were still sinners.
Not after we’d cleaned ourselves up. Not after we’d fixed every mistake. Not after we’d become the people we thought God wanted us to be.
While we were still sinners.
Jesus came for us.
The grace we receive through Christ isn’t something we earn. It’s something freely given because of what Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection. His sacrifice was sufficient. His blood washes us clean. His work on the cross was once for all.
Hebrews 10:10 says, “And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Once for all.
That phrase is easy to read and move past, but stop and think about it. Jesus didn’t partially pay for our sins. He didn’t make salvation possible if we could somehow finish the job ourselves. He gave Himself completely.
That’s grace.
And honestly, I couldn’t explain what that grace looks like much better than Cochren & Co. already does. The final refrain of “What Grace Can Do” says it all:
“The broken find their breakthrough.
The old is made brand new.
The hurting find their healing.
That’s what grace can do.
Make a heart of stone start beating.
Raise you right up out that tomb.
Make a saint out of a sinner.
That’s what grace can do.”
That’s the Gospel.
Grace takes what’s broken and restores it. Grace takes what’s old and makes it new. Grace brings life where there was death. Grace softens hearts that have become hardened. Grace doesn’t simply make us feel better about who we were. Through Christ, grace makes us new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Maybe you’re reading this and you’ve been walking with Jesus for years. Maybe you’re in a season where you feel closer to Him than ever. Or maybe you’ve never truly turned toward Him at all.
Wherever you are, the invitation is the same.
Come home.
It doesn’t matter how far you’ve drifted. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve failed. It doesn’t matter how broken you think you are. And it doesn’t matter if this is the first time you’ve ever genuinely turned toward God.
Jesus is still there.
And when you turn toward Him, you don’t find a Savior standing at a distance waiting for you to prove yourself worthy. You find a Savior who gave His life for you.
The Father runs.
That’s what grace can do.
And it can do that for you too.
Turn to Jesus. Trust in Him. Lay down the things you’ve been carrying and come home.
He’s waiting, and He will come running.
Week in Reflection
With Gospel Community in full swing, I want to take this week’s reflection to simply thank God for the community He’s placed in front of me.
What started as a weekly gathering has become so much more than that. This group has become family. We don’t simply show up once a week, talk about what we’ve been learning, and then go our separate ways. We’re doing life together. We celebrate the highs together, walk through the lows together, pray for one another, encourage one another, and challenge one another to continue growing in our walks with Christ.
One of the things that encourages me the most is seeing the growth and vulnerability within our group. There’s something powerful about being able to sit around a room with other believers and be honest about where we are. We don’t have to pretend that everything is perfect. We can talk about our struggles, our victories, our questions, our failures, and the ways God is working in our lives. That kind of vulnerability creates an environment where real discipleship can happen.
Scripture reminds us of the importance of this kind of community. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together.” That’s exactly what I’m seeing in my Gospel Community. We’re not simply meeting because it’s something on the church calendar. We’re meeting because we need each another.
I’m incredibly thankful that God has given me this community. There’ve been plenty of seasons in my life where I tried to walk through things on my own, and I’ve learned that God didn’t design us to live that way. He gives us His church, His people, to walk alongside us.
So if you’re reading this and you aren’t currently connected to a Bible study or Gospel Community within your local church, I would strongly encourage you to get involved. Take the step. Show up. Be willing to be vulnerable. Let people into your life, and allow yourself to walk alongside others as they walk with Christ.
I truly believe it can change your life. More importantly, it can help you see more clearly how God is working through His people.
I’m so thankful for this family God has placed in my life, and I pray that I never take it for granted.
And always remember, God loves you, and so do I.
Connection Church in Sioux Falls is a gospel-centered community committed to helping people follow Jesus through authentic relationships, biblical teaching, and everyday mission. Rooted in historic Christian belief and aligned with gospel renewal movements, the church exists to see lives transformed by Jesus. Learn more: https://siouxfallsconnection.com/who-we-are
