EPHESIANS 1:2

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

My mom used to tell me when I was five or six years old, I would walk down main street with her in our small, South Georgia town of Pelham and walk right up to people, stick out my hand and say, “Hey, how you doing?” She said she knew then I was going to be a preacher or a politician. I wouldn’t call my mom a prophet, but here I am six decades later in full time ministry.

Paul uses this expression in Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:2; Philippians 1:2;  1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1; 1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:2; Titus 1:4; and Philemon 1:3. Why does he start his epistles that way? I believe it is because the recipients of these letters needed to hear it. They needed to hear more about the grace of God in their lives. They needed to hear more about peace, something which often escaped them. This greeting wooed them to read more.

APPLICATION

Unfortunately, many of us greet each other without grace and peace. We greet gruffly or inconsiderately. We harbor grudges and spurn the other person. We are not following Paul’s example of grace and peace when we do that. I know it’s now seen as a cliché but “What Would Jesus Do”? You know what He would do. He would greet each person with love and respect, in grace and peace.

Do you know what you are doing when you extend grace and peace to someone? To say “grace to you” means you wish them favor with God. Who in your life could use that? Everyone? Probably! But God’s favor isn’t just about giving them something. It’s about eternal favor through His Son, Jesus. Don’t you want that for everyone?

And to say “peace from God our Father” is to wish peace of mind. It was a common Jewish farewell. It was wishing for the best health (welfare) of an individual. Shouldn’t we be wishing that for everyone as well? We may not like someone too much but wishing them well is the right thing to do – always.

How will you greet the next person you meet? Hopefully with grace and peace.

Lord, let me greet as Jesus would have.