“But everyone knows that you are obedient to the Lord. This makes me very happy. I want you to be wise in doing right and to stay innocent of any wrong. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”
Romans 16:19-20 NLT
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you”, Paul concludes. What a lovely thought to leave with the Roman believers. The word “grace” means favour, blessings and kindness. But the sobering thought is that because of our sin we deserve the opposite. That God chooses to bless us through His grace inevitably must bring us to our knees in grateful worship. We read Ephesians 2:8, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” We don’t deserve fellowship and life with God, because He is a sinless and pure Being, whereas we are sinful and impure. But the fact is that Jesus took on Himself the punishment that we deserved for our sins and in return He gave us His righteousness, so that rather than see sinful humans, God sees Jesus. That’s divine grace!
Paul’s prayer about the grace of the Lord being with us means that we must be gracious in our relationships with others. Our selfish behaviour often upsets other people. Other people’s selfish behaviour often upsets us. But as we extend the grace of God to others, two things have an opportunity to happen. Firstly, God will be able to reveal Himself through our kindness. Secondly, as we share God’s grace, we too will experience His kindness within us. Paul wrote that we must even “clothe” ourselves in grace. Colossians 3:12, “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience”.
Another area of grace comes in forgiveness. In Colossians 3:13, Paul wrote, “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others”. That’s grace.
There is a lovely gracious blessing that the Lord instructed Moses to give to the priests. We read in Numbers 6:23-27, “Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing: ‘May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favour and give you his peace.’ Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them.”
This is how God’s grace works – He has poured it out on us so that we can do the same to those around us. We can’t show God’s grace unless we have received it ourselves. So when Paul issued the greeting “May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you” he was praying that the grace we receive through Jesus would enhance and improve every day of our lives. Thank You Lord!
Dear Father God. Your grace is limitless and eternal. May it transform our lives and the communities where we live. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 