Together in Christ: 'Rescued to Bless' — Galatians 1:3-5

We live in troubled times. How do we find grace and peace in such a troubled and broken world?

As Paul begins his letter to the disciples in Galatia, he prays for them to have grace and peace. He wants them - and us - to know that Jesus gave His life so we could have this grace and peace. ^[1] He died to rescue us from the destructiveness of evil and from our inability to eradicate Satan's destructive power through law-centered and performance-based religion. ^[2] God wants us to discover His gifts of grace, love, mercy, and pardon that save us from sin, evil, death, and hell. Our Father sent the Son to liberate us from the tyranny of trying to earn our salvation through our good works. He freed us to do good works in response to the grace we have received and the power of the Holy Spirit to transform us to become more and more like Jesus. ^[3]

Paul repeatedly demonstrated the gift we share when we pray for God to bless our brothers and sisters with grace and peace. Paul often reminded his fellow believers of their source of grace: Jesus and His sacrifice. Paul acknowledged that the world is a hard and evil place but insisted that this world did not have to claim us. Jesus paid our ransom price. We are His, and He made us new and righteous, liberating us from the power of Satan, sin, death, and hell. ^[4]

We've been given the gifts of grace and peace. What is our response to such good news? We give glory to God, Who made this possible. ^[5] And, the Father wants us to pass on this grace and peace we have received by praying for it to come to others, just as Paul so often did, ^[6] and by being agents of God's grace and peace by the way we live and interact with others. ^[7]