Devotional Thoughts: Grace and peace to you

I started to write the "Devotional Thoughts" as a way to help me more fully form my reactions to reading small portions of Scripture. Part of the Christian life is the practice of examining life in light of the Bible.

Why does it matter?

In everyday life there are instruction manuals. It could be for some software, for a DVD player, for a cell phone, whatever.

Is there an instruction manual for life?

Christians believe that the Scriptures serve that role.

After Jesus resurrected and gave His followers instructions to go tell everybody about Him, the church was founded. See the book of Acts to find some of the history of the early days of the church.

Eventually, the life and teachings of Jesus were written down and Matthew, Mark, Luke-Acts and John became the most highly regarded records of what Jesus did and what He said.

Additionally, the leaders of the early church wrote letters to churches and specific believers to encourage them and teach them about the faith. Again, certain ones came to be highly regarded. For instance, James and Jude, brothers of Jesus have one letter each as part of the Christian Scriptures. In the Gospel accounts, we have little information about the brothers and sisters of Jesus. I suppose they came to faith as a result of the resurrection?

Peter the famous disciple who denied Jesus as well as other famous events in the Gospels is acknowledged for two letters in the New Testament. It is also believed that Mark's gospel may have drawn heavily from the recollections of Peter.

John is credited for the Gospel of John, letters First, Second and Third John and finally for the Revelation which aside from John 3:16 signs at football games contains some of the most widely known (and deeply misunderstood) passages of Scripture!

One of my favorite portions of the Bible is St. Paul's letter to the Philippians.

Philippians 1:1-2
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

St. Paul is clearly one of the major figures of Christianity after Jesus. 13 of the New Testament books are believed to have been written by Paul.

Timothy is Paul's protege. Paul met Timothy in Acts 16 and from that point on, Paul trained him up.


Image source: http://www.bibleplaces.com/images/Philippi_acropolis_from_east_tb_n011201.jpg

Philippi is a city in Eastern Macedonia. Go here for some history.
Excerpt:

The Apostle Paul's travels to Philippi can be found in Acts chapter 16. Paul's visit to this city takes place shortly after the outset of his second missionary journey around A.D. 49. Some believe that Paul was in this city sometime in the summer to early fall of A.D. 50.
.........
Paul no doubt had much correspondence with the church at Philippi. The letter that we have today known as Paul's Epistle to the Philippians is likely written from Rome while Paul was under house arrest. Written circa A.D. 61, this letter corresponds to a church that has been in existence for over a decade from Paul's first visit there.

To see some additional photos and read some additional history check this page out.

"Overseers and deacons ... "

Sounds very Presbyterian! 8-)

For the non-presbyterians who have stumbled onto this page, one point of emphasis in presbyterian churches is that they are led by overseers (or elders) and deacons.

"grace to you and peace ... "

I heard a definition of grace that uses the letters in grace: God's Riches At Christ's Expense.

There is probably no better hymn about grace than Amazing Grace:

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see ...

As for peace, it is not just the absence of conflict but I think of peace as a sense of well-being.

We need grace and only God can give it. We need peace and again, only God can provide it. Lord, help me be an instrument by which Your Grace and Peace reach people. Amen!