Galatians 1:3-5
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father—to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for sending us your grace and peace, which came to us through your plan of salvation. While we did not eat the fruit Adam ate, we are still under sin’s condemnations. “So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned.” (Romans 5: 12). Every person is equally condemned; no one is exempt because we all sin. Your plan of salvation was to restore us, your fallen creatures, through your Son’s salvational work and save us from this present evil age.
Thank you for sending us your Son, Jesus. He willingly came here to be part of your created order and lived that perfect life we could not. He suffered our punishment at the hands of the Roman soldiers and the Jewish religious leaders, then paid the eternal price for all our sins; all this he accomplished was to rescue us. We are restored to you through faith in Jesus and his actions. Faith is not ours either, but was delivered to us by the Holy Spirit through the hearing of your Word; in it, we realize what you have done to bring us your grace and peace, so we thank you for saving us.
All this is your will for your creation: that we know you through Jesus, trust in the salvational work he has done for us, and believe in the restoration he has completed, uniting us with you. Strengthen our faith by your word so we will never abandon the forgiveness Jesus won for us. Let our reaction be to share this good news of your salvation with those who do not know you. So that they, too, will have faith in their Savior Jesus and be restored and united with you. Amen.
Written through Pastor Roger Emmons
Grace is the undeserved love we receive from the Father at Jesus’ expense. Because of Christ, we are restored to the Father because our sins are entirely removed, and this is true peace—being reunited with God for eternity.