Grace and Peace – written devotional

There is so much truth in these few verses! Paul wrote the letter of Galatians to the believers in the church of Galatia with the intention of defending the pure Gospel (good news of Jesus) and to expose the dangers of legalism. Paul starts off by establishing his authority as an apostle (a messenger of God) ordained and commissioned by God. He starts by establishing his authority because in the coming verses he’s going to deliver a strong word – a shockingly strong word.

Then he opens up with: “Grace to you and peace from God…”

You cannot understand grace without experiencing peace with God – grace and peace go hand-in-hand and can only come from God. the opposite of grace is legalism (a focus on self-effort and self-righteousness), and legalism will never bring any peace. Legalism will make you anxious and uptight. It will cause you to live in overdrive because of a performance mentality or passivity because you feel like you’re a failure. Interestingly, if grace and peace come from God, then legalism comes from the enemy. When you’re getting into legalism you’re getting into a satanic message which will only bring bondage and negative fruit in your life. Praise God for His grace! What a wonderful message of great joy which is for all people!

Grace will always bring peace and rest, and it will always cause faith to rise and be active in your life. Grace is the message of God’s unconditional love and grace for us demonstrated through Jesus giving Himself for our sins (john 1:29; 1 John 2:2) so that we “might be delivered from this present evil age.” So many people, in this present evil age, are in pursuit of peace. They are spending loads of money and energy trying to obtain peace when you can receive and experience supernatural peace from God through receiving His grace – His undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. You can experience perfect peace through the gospel of grace!

Many people walk around with feelings of condemnation, guilt and shame because they know that they have missed the mark of perfection – they know that in and of their own actions (or inaction) they are not good enough for God, but praise God that He offers us a free gift through Jesus (Romans 5:1) and when we realize that in Him we are forever forgiven and accepted in the Beloved, we will enjoy perfect peace. 

The gospel is the good news of His grace which declares that in Christ, we are declared completely innocent. You are innocent in Christ and should never experience any feeling of condemnation ever (Romans 8:1).