“Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.” (v. 3)

You’re so used to hearing it that you, like I, flew right past it.

We read about “grace, mercy, and peace” being with us—so we relegate it to “epistolary greeting” status.

But did you catch the difference in this letter?

John prays that grace and mercy and peace—the gifts of God the Father and Jesus the Son—WILL BE with us. They are afforded in the past, and they are real now, but they also will be for us going forward!

Does your confidence increase, knowing that the same grace that saved you will also guard you tomorrow?

Does your shame fade, knowing that the mercy of forgiveness and the gift of Jesus’ atonement will meet you again in the morning?

Does your fear subside, knowing that the peace you have with Holy God—who is the only Judge—is settled forever?

Grace and mercy and peace—rooted in the truth of God’s Word, known in the love of Jesus—will be with us!

May that greeting give you hope.

— Tyler