Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. // 2 Thessalonians 1:2
My heart pounding, I reread the message. The joyful lift that always accompanied an email from James was replaced by a sinking feeling as the gravity of his wife’s words hit me. The doctors had done everything they could. He was back in the hospital for the last time.
As I thought of how often his words had guided, sustained, or gently corrected me, my tears fell freely. Since high school, James had been my mentor in ministry and in life. His honest, compassionate counsel always pointed me back to the Word, back to Jesus Himself. He signed every email the same way: grace and peace.
Saint Paul’s words to the church at Thessalonica today remind me of the power of these words: grace and peace. Grace is the free gift to every believer that smooths the path, covers our failings and imperfections, and helps us grow in patience and love with one another and with ourselves. We can never have too much of it. Peace, also a gift, closely follows the work of grace.
Saint Paul imbued everything he wrote to the churches in his care with grace, to aid in their growth and development, and peace, to help them trust that the grace was working. His letters contain fraternal corrections, frustrations, even long lectures sometimes–but they are always wrapped in this spirit of grace and peace.
As Christ’s Body living and moving in the world today, we have almost unlimited opportunities for interaction. We reply to a text with a gif, add our reaction to someone’s post, or leave a quick comment. When it is so easy to send thoughts so quickly, how carefully are our communications wrapped in both grace and peace?
This week, how can we be intentional about sharing grace and peace with those we encounter? Let’s pray over one specific communication with another person this week, that our words will be received with the same grace and peace with which we send them.
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