TRENDING
NOW:
GRACE,
MERCY, AND PEACE
What greeting do you use when
you meet a longtime friend or write a letter to a loved one? Do you say, “Hi!
How are you?” to which they reply the obligatory, “Fine. How are you?” Paul
greeted the believers to whom he wrote by pronouncing “Grace, mercy, and peace,
from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.” You may be thinking
that Paul could officially say that to Titus because he was an Apostle and
writing scripture. However, can we not confidently say that God bestows grace,
mercy, and peace on all who trust in Jesus? Paul desired that his children in
the faith understand the grace, the unmerited favor, of God more and more as
they grew in their knowledge of Jesus. He asked God to extend mercy to them
whenever they fell short of His holiness, as we all do at times. He reminded
them of the peace, the wholeness, the contentment that was theirs through the
indwelling Holy Spirit.
I wonder what would happen if
we began greeting other Christians in this manner? I think it would feel really
weird at first, but perhaps it would encourage someone to rest in the fact that
he or she is a child of God. Perhaps we would be encouraged to truly minister
these gifts from God in our daily dealings with others. In our
correspondence—okay, let’s be real—in our emails, tweets, and Facebook posts,
perhaps we could remind each other of the grace, mercy, and peace that is ours
through the Lord Jesus Christ. I am going to try it! Perhaps if you try it,
too, we can start a trend.
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