Grace
2 Corinthians 1:2-5
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
Grace and Peace. Paul uses this opening in almost every letter of his in the New Testament. Yet sadly, these words are now so commonplace that we seldom stop to ponder their impact.
In his book Friendship Counseling, Dr. Kevin Huggins gives a fresh perspective on God’s gifts of grace and peace by describing how we see them fulfilled in our lives. says the gift of grace comes to fruition when we experience needs being met that we are unable to meet ourselves. An example of this would be when in the midst of grief and despair, God brings comfort and hope that supersede circumstance. When we, through the power of the Holy Spirit, experience the gift of grace in our lives, we experience a depth of relationship with Christ that affects our very core. A similar effect is true of peace – we experience the gift of peace when God helps to relieve distress which we can not relieve on our own.
It is interesting to reflect on Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (above) in light of these definitions. In his letter, Paul describes God as comforting His people in times of great need and distress, bringing grace and peace to their lives in a way they could not experience on their own. And just as God comforts His people by bringing grace and peace, we are also meant to partner with the Holy Spirit in comforting others.
During the past year, many of us have experienced deep emotional need and personal distress. This leaves us in dire need of grace and peace, perhaps in ways that we have not previously felt before. Due to our unusual circumstances, our awareness is heightened and our souls are raw. We see our needs, and we feel them deeply. Perhaps the reason for this is that the activities and coping mechanisms we previously used to avoid feeling our needs have been stripped away. Or perhaps God is revealing that these things were never sufficient to meet our needs in the first place.
Questions for Reflection:
- When is a time you have experienced God’s comfort in a moment of need or distress?
- How has the past year brought a new sense of need or distress to your life or in the lives of those around you?
- What is a practical step you could take to extend grace and peace to someone in your life?
