His Love Endures

2 John 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from his Son, Jesus Christ as we live in truth and love.
 
1 Chronicles 16:34 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
 
JOHN’S greeting of grace, mercy and peace is an expression of God’s enduring love for you.
   Grace is God’s undeserved favor on the sinner to save you AND give you the strength to live for him. The only other time John wrote of grace is to introduce the wonder of God’s glorious gift in John 1:16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Father’s way to reveal grace to the believer. Grace, then, is not a one-day gift that grants you salvation. Grace is God’s gift that remains open and active to empower your earthly life under God’s blessings unto your eternal life.
   The same is true for mercy and peace. Think of God’s mercy. When is it visible? You begin to see it in Genesis when God clothed the sinners Adam and Eve. His mercy preserved the human race. Then he mercifully preserved a remnant in Israel, so the Father could mercifully send the Savior. His mercy extends to the world today to widen the gospel throughout the nations.
   You experience God’s mercy when you go to church. He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:5) You know God’s mercy because he has taught you to pray. Each time you pray in faith, you can know the merciful LORD God hears your prayers and answers them according to his will for your life.
   The first-century Jews saw God’s mercy extend to the Gentiles. And these early Christians exhibited God’s mercy as they ministered to the sick and unwanted. Christians have been merciful to the nations t throughout the centuries, establishing hospitals, schools and economic systems to improve the human condition.
   In God’s grace and mercy you have peace. This, too, is an ongoing gift under God’s sovereign protection. Saved through Jesus’ blood, you have peace in your soul because you have no worry regarding your home in heaven. You can continually thank God that the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7). How marvelous is your peace when you know God’s Spirit has resurrected you from sin’s death into a glorious fellowship with the holy Trinity.
   May you continually rejoice in God’s grace, mercy and peace. Amen.