Epaphras, my fellow prison in Christ Jesus, send greetings to you,
and do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
This book begins and ends with grace, and grace is throughout the middle.
Remember, the greeting was, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” And now we end with “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”
And the middle was the request for Philemon to extend grace, unmerited favor, to Onesimus, just as Jesus had extended grace to Philemon, and Paul extended grace as he discipled Philemon.
Grace is everywhere!
Sometimes I wonder how we get caught up in our uptight little worlds. We lack grace, unmerited favor, towards others. And we often lack it for even ourselves, instead of grace going before us, with us, and flowing through us.
So I guess I want to leave this study acknowledging that we are not alone. Others are with us in the journey, just as we have been together through this journey.
And we are surrounded by grace. God’s grace. Grace to forgive others. Grace to believe better days are coming. Grace to give to ourselves and others.
God’s grace.
