While reading my morning devotional (Revelation for Today on the Bible App) on Thursday, it mentioned how in the New Testament it is always “grace and peace” and not “peace and grace.” It asked “Have you ever asked yourself why none of them would write peace and then grace?” I had never asked myself that and nor had I ever noticed this placement of words. But when I kept on reading and processing what my devotional was saying, it made complete sense: You can’t have the peace of God before receiving the grace of God. Wow! That’s deep and so so good! This got me thinking about the words grace and peace, so I did some thinking about them. 🙂
Grace is defined as the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal blessings (Apple dictionary). When I hear the word “grace”, the first thing I think of is all the grace God gives us. He freely gives it even if we feel undeserving, which happens often. In simple terms, it’s “God’s redemptive mercy,” but it is so much more bigger than “simple terms” yet it is simple in the same way. God does not have to even think for a second about giving grace to His children which makes it simple. However the amount of grace God is willing and does give is so abundant and never ending which makes it so big. That’s kind of wordy, but it’s the best way I can try to put the amazing grace of God in words. (If you have any other definitions or thought on God’s grace, I’d love to read them in the comments!)
Now for peace: Peace is defined as free from disturbance; quiet and tranquil (Apple dictionary). This was a harder word for me to wrap my head around since I usually just describe peace as “peace and calmness.” In the Vine Dictionary (an app dictionary with just about any biblical word you could think of), it defined peace as “to be silent or still.” I like this definition as well and it came with one example: God calming the sea into a still, or peaceful, nature in Mark 4:39. Peace is something everyone desires even if they don’t know it because it makes life so much better. There’s my jumbled description and thoughts of peace. (Again, if you have another definition or thoughts, I’d love to read them in the comments)
All this got me to be thinking that having “still” relationships is something I want to have with everyone in my life. I don’t want there to be tension between my relationships because then I’m not doing my part in the relationship. I am letting there be something in between deepening a relationship, the tension, and not doing anything about it. It’s hard to bring grace into a relationship when you think it’s a big mistake. But then I started to think about the words grace and peace with this situation. So here’s the part where grace always needs to come first…
If there is something in the way of a relationship being peaceful, grace needs to be given. You need to find out what’s causing the tension and give that person, or yourself, grace to forgive and/or discuss the situation in order to regain peace in the relationship. It’s a simple concept, but sometimes is really hard to grasp and understand in life. But with things like this, there’s always an example to look to: God and His relationship with us.
God has given us so much grace, more than we’re all probably even aware of. Because of this grace, we are able to have a peaceful relationship with the Lord. We are able to talk to him about anything even if it is a huge mistake we made, and He will still give us grace and bring peace back into our relationship. The Lord is constantly forgiving us and giving us grace for all our “mess-ups.” You have no idea how happy I am to know I serve a God who treats His children like this.
So with all of this being said think about these two questions….
Do you truly understand all the grace God has given you? He is constantly wanting to give you more and restore peace in you relationship. Have you accepted this grace?
Who do you need to extend grace to in order to restore peace in a relationship?
Hope you enjoyed reading about grace and peace! Leave comments and questions below! I love reading what y’all think!
Lots of love and prayers,
Paige :):):)
