June 1-Grace and Peace
Journey through Ephesians
Ephesians 1.1-2–“Greetings”
Focus Verse: Ephesians 1.2
2″Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Insight: The more I think about these two ideas, grace and peace, the more I realize that I can’t survive without either. I want to learn to see God’s grace all around me. It is so easy to feel like the world is falling apart and it is all falling on me. I guess that the key to seeing, experiencing and embracing grace is humility–without it, you don’t know you need it. So really, God offers me something that I can’t receive until I am ready to admit that I need it. And the good news is, that God knows that we need it desperately and He wants to give it freely! That must be why we call it amazing!
St. Augustine spoke of the restlessness that our hearts experience until we are willing to seek it in God. Jesus told us that we would only find rest in intimately, dependently, embracing him and his way of life–this rest is peace. We all know what it is to have restless hearts–more times than not, the restlessness is a result of trying to be in control ourselves. When I am trying to be “in control” I am believing that I can do a better job by being “in control” than God can. That is a scary proposition!
Response and Action: I will allow God to be God today. I will live with the knowledge that if I need grace and peace and that if I don’t try to find my grace and peace in God, then I just won’t find it. In doing so, i will have and take many opportunities today to offer that same grace and peace to those around me.
God, help us to experience grace and peace from You by allowing ourselves to acknowledge who we really are, that we really need You and that You are more than sufficient for everything. And help us to give You the freedom to not only give us Your grace and peace, but to be the vessels through which You give grace and peace to those around us. Amen.
I focused on the 1st verse. Can we look at this as though it were written directly to us? the church of St. Francis? If so, then it would go like this…To God’s holy people in St. Francis, the faithful in Christ Jesus. There’s something about being addressed like that, His holy people, faithful in Christ. Sorry for being repetitive, but I really like the sound of that. It makes me happy.