Grace and Peace Before You Do a Thing

When I sat down to write to the Ephesians, I began not with my credentials but with the will of God: "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God" (Ephesians 1:1). Understand what I am confessing there. I did not appoint myself. I did not earn this office by my zeal — my zeal once made me a persecutor. It was God's will alone that took hold of me on the Damascus road and made me an apostle. And if I stand where I stand only by his will, then so do you. Whatever you are in Christ, you are by his choosing, not your climbing.

See then how I address those who received this letter: "to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 1:1). Do not stumble over the word saints, as though it named only the great and the polished. It names every believer. If you belong to Christ, God has set you apart as holy — not because your life is yet spotless, but because you are his. And mark the two words that hold everything together: "in Christ Jesus." That is the ground you stand on. Not in your feelings, not in your record, not in your strength on your best day — in him. Everything I go on to say in this letter, of being chosen and adopted and sealed and raised, all of it is found in that one place: in him.

Then I say what I long for you to have: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 1:2). Grace first, always grace first — the unearned favor of God poured out on people who could never buy it. And out of grace comes peace: peace with the God you once fled, and the settled quiet of a heart that knows it is no longer condemned. See where they come from — "from God our Father." He who commands the universe, I dare to call Father, and so may you, for in Christ he has made you his own child.

So today, whether you read this strong in faith or barely holding on, receive these opening words as they were meant. You are his by his will. You are holy in his sight because you are in Christ. And grace and peace are not wages to be earned tomorrow but gifts held out to you now, from a Father's hand. Take them. Live as one who has them.