I Timothy 1:2 “Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Paul uniquely greets the preachers, Timothy and Titus, with this prayerful salutation, “Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord” (II Timothy 1:2; Titus 1:4). These three words, “Grace, mercy, and peace”, are used in a variety of ways in the Bible, in this case these words reflect the particular needs of those in the Lord’s service. Those who are actively in the service of our “Lord” are in great need of abundant “Grace, mercy, and peace”; for, they are often severely torn between their natural inclinations and their weighty Spiritual Duties; also, great troubling obstacles seems to await them at every turn. Paul acknowledged that “what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I” (Romans 7:15) and “in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not” (Romans 7:18) and “the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Romans 7:19) and “I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (Romans 7:23). But, Paul revealed the answer to his great problem when he said, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” (Romans 7:24). This unique salutation, in the Pastoral Epistles, is a prayer we ought to offer for our Ministers and for all who step forward in the service of our “Lord”. We need “Grace” to supply us with the feeling of our Lord’s blessed presence in troubled time, to sharpen and strengthen and direct the gifts He gives us, and to focus our attention upon the “Lord” and His will and not the devastating enticements and troubles of this present world. We need “mercy” to feel our Lord’s great and most tender love when it seems that everything is going wrong and working against us, to feel and know that our “Lord” is forgiving us when we fail and fall short of His Commandments, to know that our “Lord” is on-scene lifting the loads we cannot carry and defeating the adversaries that are more powerful than we are, and to provide wisdom when the task requires mental powers beyond our abilities. We need the “peace” of God to calm our troubled souls when the storms are raging about us, to rest us when we’ve reached the limit of our strength, to sooth us when our hearts are pained, and to encourage us when fear and discouragement eat at us like an overwhelming plague. Our “Lord” sends these things directly to us from His Blessed and Holy “throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16). At the present time we are in great need of our Lord’s “Grace, mercy, and peace”, so let us earnestly pray one for another!