Grace and Peace

In recent correspondence from a friend in Iraq, I read the undertones of deep frustration with sin and guilt. He demanded to know what he should do, only to answer his own inquiry with the gospel. How much worse, then, to know the answer but be unable to use it or somehow "turn it on." I have frequently found myself in the same impotent position. I tell God and others how wrong I am and how miserable--I reproach myself with the gospel--but joy continues to elude me. As I read my friend's letter, the odd thought struck me that the very fact that I have no joy is what robs me of joy. "It's all so clear!" I cry, "why is it not so with me?" The presence of this grief in my life has led me to notice a particular phrase that appears often in the gospels: "grace and peace."
Almost every epistle in the New Testament begins with the same blessing/greeting.

Romans 1:7 "To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
I Corinthians 1:1-4 "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
II Corinthians 1:2 "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Galatians 1:3 "Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ"
Ephesians 1:2 "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Okay, stop there. Don't just read that one verse. Begin in each and every book and read until you hit the verse where you are told, "grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." When I do this, I sometimes can't help but keep going--what comes next is amazingly good news. Try Ephesians; you'll have to read the whole first chapter before Paul exhortation to us rises into a doxology to God! Here indeed are rich promises to light a dark and troubled heart. Grace and peace. Predestined to glory according to His eternal purpose. Hope, wisdom, glory, power. Every promise better than the last. Every promise is better... Every promise. I just took the crucial step. What my friend and I lack is faith. Reading and reviewing these Scriptures revives that tiny spark of faith within me and what what outside my reach becomes reality.
Try it. Start in Romans and read about your God. Read Philippians and Colossians and the Thessalonian epistles all the way up through Jude. See if His brows are furrowed on account of your sin! Is he not rather like the God of Christmas present?

pax et amor
-Radman