“Grace and peace to you,” is the Apostle Paul’s favorite blessing. We see this blessing time and time again at the start of almost each one of Paul’s letters found in the New Testament. How fitting this is in that this is really, in large part, what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about: grace and peace.
It doesn’t take deep wisdom or discernment to see that the world is in disarray. The world is full of violence, corruption, brokeness, and vengeance. Oh, how we need grace and peace.
Making it a bit more personal, it’s not only global humanity that is in disarray, most of our lives are filled with difficulty, strife, and problems. Our circumstances and our relationships are filled with tensions, anxiety, and sometimes downright darkness.
Grace and peace to you.
Grace is commonly defined as “unmerited favor”. All of us have had people in our lives who have offended, upset, or perhaps even violated us. We all have been the victim of injustice. It is simply a part of reality. Certainly such people do not merit our favor. At the same time a great deal of the strife and difficulty that makes up the dark clouds that loom overhead are the result of refusing to offer favor to those who don’t merit it. It is so hard to forgive. But isn’t that the entire point of forgiveness? It wouldn’t be forgiveness if it was merited favor.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ gives us the freedom, through the death of Jesus, to liberate ourselves from being the victim. It enables us to freely offer forgiveness, unmerited favor and grace thereby ushering peace into our circumstances. Forgive them; grace and peace to them. Jesus paid the consequence on their behalf—there is no need for you make them pay as well.
On the other side of the same coin, all of us have offended, upset, or perhaps even violated another. We have all been the culprit of injustice. It is simply a part of reality. Certainly we do not merit the favor of those we have wronged. All of us are guilty of causing pain in the life of another. A great deal of the strife and difficulty that makes up the dark cloud that loom s overhead is the result of others refusing to offer us favor, especially when we don’t deserve it. With grace there would be peace.
Do you know the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Even if those that we have wronged refuse to offer us grace and peace, our Creator never refuses us grace. He is full of love, peace and justice. It is for this reason that in the same way that Jesus suffered punishment for those who have wronged us, he has also suffered the punishment for our very wrongs. He offers us grace and that brings peace.
