I feel like a terrible person for admitting this, but I
kinda chuckle at certain people when they pray because I know what they're
going to say. When I was a teen, one of our youth leaders always started her
prayers with "Lord God, our Father and Savior." Another person I know
always starts his prayers thanking God for Jesus and the salvation we have
through him. My dad ends his prayer for dinner with, "bless this food to
our bodies and us to thy service." Jeff always closes with "I/we love
you, God. Amen."
But you know what, as I'm chuckling at the predictability of
these prayers, I'm overlooking the powerful things being said. These people
praying are addressing God in a way that reminds them of who God is and shows
our need for Him.
[Galatians 1:3-5 Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the
present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the
glory forever and ever. Amen.]
Paul always is opening his letters with "Grace and
peace to you from God." (Seriously, if you flip to Romans or Corinthians
or Timothy or any of Paul's epistles, you'll see they all have that phrase in
the first 2 or 3 verses). Just like the prayers that are predictable, it's easy
to overlook Paul's intro and not pay attention to the power of what he's saying
because he says it all the time!
Grace is defined as favor, pardon or mercy. It insinuates
that you don't get something bad that you deserve. A teacher may extend grace
by offering a second chance on a test you bombed. A parent may extend grace by
not making you pay for repairs after a fender-bender. A friend may extend grace
by not making a big deal about you spilling ice tea all over their coat on the
way to snow camp. God has ultimately extended grace to us by offering us
salvation when we deserve death for our sins. But on a daily basis, He extends
His grace to us. He doesn't condemn us for each and every mistake we make.
Although there are consequences to our decisions, He is "compassionate and
gracious" (Ps. 103:8) and does not always give us what we deserve when we
sin. (Little sidenote- just because God offers grace doesn’t mean we should
keep on sinning in order to receive it- see Romans 5 for more on that…)
Peace is defined as freedom of the mind from annoyance,
anxiety, distraction or obsession. The past few weeks I've been listening to My
Lighthouse by Rend Collective. It's an awesome picture of one of the many roles
God plays in our life (He is strong and steady and offers guidance.). One of
the phrases that's repeated is "You are the peace in my troubled
sea." That has been a very comforting thought to me, particularly the past
few weeks. No matter what ups and downs may come, God is this constant source
we can count on. At snow camp, we sang Oceans by Hillsong, which refers to
gazing on Jesus above the waves. I couldn't help but picture Peter stepping out
of the boat in the middle of the storm and experiencing peace while looking at
Jesus. It was when he took his eyes off of Him that he started to sink. Jesus
doesn't always cause the storms in our life to subside, but He gives us peace
in the midst if we look to Him.
Paul greeting his readers with grace and peace should be a
source of comfort for them. All of us could benefit from more of God’s grace
and peace in our lives.
1. Give an example from the past week or two where someone
has been given grace.
2. _______________ to you and _______________ from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Which could you use right now- grace or peace or both?
Why?
4. Take a minute and journal your thoughts about this
passage:
These are devotionals written for the teens. A handful of us are taking turns writing, so it may seem like sporadic passages. It all flows nicely for the teens in their devo books though.
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