GRACE AND PEACE
“Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” Galatians 1:3
From today’s reading in the Treasury of Daily Prayer, written my Martin Luther:
From today’s reading in the Treasury of Daily Prayer, written my Martin Luther:
Grace
and peace—these two words embrace
the whole of Christianity. Grace
forgives sin, and peace stills the conscience. The two devils who plague us are sin and
conscience, the power of the Law and the sting of sin (1 Cor. 15:56). But Christ has conquered these two monsters
and trodden them underfoot, both in this age and in the age to come. The world does not know this; therefore it
cannot teach anything sure about how to overcome sin, conscience, and death. Only Christians have this kind of teaching and
are equipped and armed with it, so that they can overcome sin, despair, and
eternal death. It is a teaching that is
given only by God; it does not proceed from free will, nor was it invented by
human reason or wisdom.
Because the world does not understand this doctrine, it neither can nor will tolerate it. It brags about free will, about our powers, about our works—all these as means by which to earn and attain grace and peace, that is, the forgiveness of sins and a joyful conscience. But the conscience cannot be quiet and joyful unless it has peace through this grace, that is, through the forgiveness of sins promised in Christ. Many have worked hard, inventing various religious orders and disciplines, to find peace and a quiet conscience; but instead, they have plunged even more deeply into even greater misery, for such tactics are merely ways of multiplying doubt and despair. Therefore, your bones and mine will know no rest until we hear the Word of grace and cling to it firmly and faithfully.
Grace and Peace to you on this day!
Pastor Mark
Pilgrim Lutheran Church, LCMS Burton, Michigan
office: 810.744.1188
mobile: 248.881.7627
Soli Deo Gloria
"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him…” Psalm 37:7
