Paul - “May God our Father give you grace and peace.” (Colossians 1:2)
What are 5 qualities you would like to have in your life? You probably want “grace” and “peace” as two of those qualities. “Grace” means “God’s unmerited favor.” Paul was praying that Christians in Colossae would experience God’s "unmerited favor” in every part of their lives, every day. God still wants to bless His people with physical, circumstantial, emotional, financial, relational, vocational, and spiritual grace.
We experience God’s physical grace when we recover from an illness or injury or we’ve been spared from such. We experience God’s circumstantial grace when God protects us from potentially disastrous situations or people. We experience God’s emotional grace when we keep our sanity and faith when facing difficulties. We experience God’s financial grace when we have money to pay our bills. We experience God’s relational grace when we have friends who are loyal to us and support us. We experience God’s vocational grace when given a position or promotion we thought we would never receive. And we experience God’s spiritual grace when we receive His forgiveness and can have a relationship with Him. We’ve all received God’s amazing grace many times in our lives.
Peace is another quality that everyone seems to want, but few people seem to have. Many people live without much peace because of physical, emotional, financial, relational, or vocational problems. Some people live without much peace because their performance or productivity in their work, life, or marriage doesn’t match up to what they or others think it should be. Some people live without much peace because of the people in their lives. The good news is that Jesus wants to empower us to live a peace-filled life (John 14:27).
So, how do we get God’s supernatural peace in our hearts and lives? Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6-7: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” And when we have God’s peace, as well as God’s grace, in our lives, we can live vibrant, victorious lives.
Prayer - Lord, bless me today with Your grace and Your peace. And may I give You credit for the grace and peace I experience and express to others.
Reflection - In what areas of my life can I see God’s grace? And in what areas do I need to experience God’s peace?
