Grace and Peace to You

December 8, 2022

Philippians 1:1-2 - Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons, Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians was written after Paul’s second missionary journey to Philippi, which was a Roman colony, while he was on house arrest awaiting for his court appearance before Caesar. The majority of the believers there were Gentiles.  The people there had donated money to Paul for his ministry, so it’s primarily a thank you letter to them. 

Can imagine getting a letter from Paul? The people there know his condition, they know he is under arrest.  They probably all gathered around to read it aloud so that everyone would know what was being said. They probably asked to hear it again and again. They would have memorized it, and repeated it to everyone else who wasn’t present to hear it. 

And it starts with sending them Grace and peace… Paul gave this familiar greeting to them because he was recognizing that these only come to us from God our Father and through the Son.  

Wow… It wasn’t just that Paul was writing to them, but they could probably imagine God speaking to them through Paul. Yes, it was written to the church in Philippi… but it was written to us too. When was the last time you read the Bible and could not wait to share it with everyone else? Did you commit that book to memory?  I’ve been posting a Bible Memory Verse each week and challenging you to memorize it. It’s not easy for me to memorize scripture, at least not word for word. But I bet they did! 

We need to get back to realizing just how powerful and important the Word of God is, and start sharing it with others, just like those in Philippi did.  Who are you going to tell about God’s Word today? I challenge you to tell someone about one of your favorite scripture verses today. Which one will you share?