A Letter
A Letter
“Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.”
2 John 1:3
How many of us still write handwritten letters in this digital age? I remember, before my grandparents died, that they had actually become somewhat proficient with a computer. At one time in their lives, I had actually corresponded with them through email.
My wife’s grandmother, on her dads side, affectionately known as “granny”, still hand writes letters. Our twelve year old son and she are pen pals and write letters back and forth to each other. One every couple of weeks a letter is written and one is received. It’s become a pretty awesome thing to watch my son get excited to drive down to the mailbox and see if a letter has come from “granny”.
But the art of the handwritten letter is lost. We have sped up our lives to the point that sitting down and writing a heart felt note, placing it in an envelope and sending it out, takes too much time. I constantly hear how busy everyone is. How there isn’t time for anything. And yet, here we are, able to take a few moments to read a devotion. We are only as busy as we make ourselves. And we will only allow what we want, into our lives. You make what you want to be important.
So on to what this devotion is all about. It’s about a letter, or actually several - actually, let’s call them epistles.
Ever since I was taught to write a letter it began with something like this……
Dear so and so. Or, To Whom It May Concern, or simply a name - Ashley,
And then there was the body of the letter which contained the contents, message or purpose of the writings. And all of this was followed by a simple ending such as; Love Always, Sincerely or Thanks,
But as I was reading in my Bible today I noticed how much consideration and thought was placed not only in the beginning of a letter, such as how Paul wrote his famous letters. But also how much care and consideration was placed in the ending of one as well by the likes of John and Peter.
These letters included their love for Jesus, their regard for salvation and sanctification and a reverence for what they believed. They were passionately written to encourage believers and followers alike to follow Jesus. They were written to express concern over danger and the excitement of the messiah. They talked about the roles and responsibilities in marriages, raising children and how churches should be conducted. And the importance always began and ended, or at least included, how much Jesus meant to them.
Now we simply and plainly start and close a letter because we are always in such a hurry. There is no mention of the love, reverence or thanksgiving we have for God or Christ. In fact, in most things we do, we miss the perfect opportunities. Letters, emails and notes are a perfect way to share our love for Who saved us from ourselves.
In todays age we can create an email signature where we don’t even have to type anything at the end - and we can create as many of those signatures as we desire. We merely have to select from a list and viola, our letter has ended. We can include things like God’s grace, the Truth we believe in and the love we have for Jesus.
But instead, letters are closed or addressed with an alphabet soup of sorts. We want everyone in the world to see our credentials, where we work, our titles, our certifications and even our pets names (kidding). Everything is included - except the most important things - that we are saved by the King and the Most High. That His grace has saved us. That our Lord and Savior died for us. That while we are yet sinners, Christ died for us. Isn’t this at least worth an honorable mention in our letters?
At my previous employer I wanted everyone to know every single thing I was a part of. I listed my name, my position, the teams I was in charge of, even my dogs name and ID number - as if anyone ever got that far in my emails. I remember one supervisor always closed their email with - “thanks for what you do”. It didn’t feel very personal - because everybody got it.
Jesus Christ is personal to me. He is the reason that my life doesn’t feel cheap anymore. It’s why I have a purpose now. Not just a place on this earth. I have been saved from myself and my savior is at the center of my life.
So if I had to close a letter today this is what it would probably look like…..
In grace and peace,
Bill
A child of God who follows Christ
Remember that you are a new creature in Christ. You are a child of God and a citizen of Heaven. You are called to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to go and make disciples in the world. Let others know whose family you belong to. Go in peace.
“Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
2 Peter 1:1-4
“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”
2 Peter 3:18
“I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee: but I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name.”
3 John 1:13-14