The Order of God

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:2 NKJV).

If God is one thing, it is that He is intentional.  He does not do anything by happenchance.  That’s why the order of how He states things is extremely critical and brings much clarity to what He is saying.  In His Word, God mentions many times the dynamic duo of grace and peace, and there is a reason that grace always comes before peace when He does.  The reality that God is expressing is that you can never find true peace until you have experienced grace because the peace our soul longs for stems from the loss of it in the Garden of Eden. 

When Adam and Eve took that first step away from the grace of God towards their own destination – when they sinned – they lost the connection that existed between them and God.  And since God is peace, they lost their peace.  From that moment forward, man would strive to regain what had been lost through many different ways – moral goodness, meditation, mantras, and a multitude of other means in which to reach up to the God of the Universe to find the inner peace in which our heart was designed to live.  Yet, there would never be “real” peace until Christ could course correct the Fall of mankind.  When you understand this backdrop, Christ’s words make perfect sense:

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27 NKJV).

Only when we have experienced the grace of God through which we are saved from the sin of self-dependence can we truly know the peace that Paul describes to the Philippians later on in this same book:

and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7 NKJV).

It is not just the order of grace and peace, however, that strikes us in this verse.  It is also the order of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Although the God-Head is co-equal in their importance, there is an order in their performance.  God the Father is the One from whom we became disconnected, Jesus is the One Who rectified the problem, and the Holy Spirit is the One Who keeps the connection solid and firm.

Today, I will ask God for the measure of grace I need to keep my heart and mind firmly planted in Christ’s finished work of reconnecting me.  I will ask the Holy Spirit to guide my every word, thought, and action to make sure that my connection is at full volume so that I can walk in the peace that does not allow my heart to be come troubled or afraid.