Hope with Grace – Part Two
Paul, writing to Timothy, links some important truths together:
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord who is our hope. 1 Timothy 1:1-2
What wonderful words: Grace, Mercy, Peace and Hope!
In our Bible reading we often skip the introductions to books and letters – each one of Paul’s letters begins with, “Grace to you and peace” or more frequently “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul was living in the time of Roman rule. The period of what’s known as “Pax Romana” – Roman Peace. A period of peace and economic prosperity. This was not necessarily the absence of war, but a period when all resistance had been brutally suppressed and citizens had lost their voices. It was peace through superior power. Rome proclaimed that Roman dominance provided the greatest, most secure and peaceful society.
So, one of the things that Paul is saying is that Pax Romana was not real peace; peace does not come from authoritarian dominance, nor from regulations – real peace is only found in the grace of God.
Not only is every word in the Scriptures precise and purposeful. The order of words is equally important and purposeful.
It’s not “peace and grace” – but always “grace and peace.” Why? We cannot know true and fully secured peace unless we know grace.
A lack of peace is a lack of assurance, a lack of security, a lack of hope, a lack of meaning, a lack of purpose and an uncertainty of identity. A lack of peace comes from worrying about what might happen. It might be a fear about the future, it may be a worry about relationship. It might be an anxiety about failure or fear of not measuring up.
Without grace, we have no peace, we have no hope. Unresolved guilt, anger and, despair all cause us to behave irrationally, as those with no hope.
In every one of our classrooms, there will be young people who do not know the grace of God, who lack peace and therefore lack true hope. What will we do?
Blessings, Brian