“Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24. Grace to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ with undying love.”
These are the closing verses of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. They contain four qualities that should be, or will be, part of every Christian’s life. If we will cultivate these qualities in our lives, we can live victoriously for the Lord and we will be better witnesses for Him. “Peace to the brothers” One of the great promises of Jesus to His disciples was that He would give them His peace. He mentioned this specifically in John 16:33: "These things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” We already have the peace of Christ in our lives; we just need to claim it. Jesus means for us to be at peace within ourselves. We need to remember this when we come across hard times in our lives. Christ’s peace has come to my rescue many times in my Christian sojourn. In that peace we find victory. But this also means that we are to live at peace with other people. This means to be at peace with people at work, at church, and all other places that we might be. The inner peace of Christ makes us peaceable. Claim this great peace today and live at peace with those around you. It is really the best way to live. “And love” The Greek word for “love” used here is the most powerful definition of love. It is the word “agape” (Agahpay). This is God’s kind of love, which means that we are to love people as God loves them, i.e., sacrificially. It is the kind of love that is described in John 3:16. We should not just feel love for others, but we should act in love toward them as God did toward us in sending His Son to serve as a sacrifice for our sins. This kind of love is aptly described in 1 John 3:18: “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue: but in deed and truth.” I guess every married man has heard his wife say at some time or other: “Don’t just say that you love me, that’s easy to do, show me that you love me.” The love that we have should be the kind that shows! “With faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” Hebrews 11:6 tells us that “without faith it is impossible to please Him.” Faith is, as we would say today, “belief on steroids.” To have true faith is not to just believe about Jesus, but to believe in Him and let that faith guide us in our everyday actions. Faith is a gift from “God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” He gave it to us to use in our service to Him and in everything that we do in life. When you mix faith with love and peace, you have a better witness to the world. We should make decisions in our lives based on what we think God wants instead of always what we want. In other words, we should be guided by our faith in the Lord. “Grace to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ with undying love.” “Grace” is the word that makes everything possible in the Christian life. It comes before faith, peace or love. As you probably already know, grace is God’s unmerited favor. We don’t earn it; God just gives it to us. God’s grace enables us to be saved and to live the Christian life. But grace is not just something that we get from God; it is to be part of our lifestyles. We are to practice grace in our dealings with people. Think of how much better our lives would be, and the lives of those around us, if we practiced God’s grace in all of our dealings. I know that the witness of our churches would be much better. All four of these characteristics are, or should be, part of our lives. We need to prayerfully cultivate them in our lives. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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