II John 1:3 “Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.”
The world that we live in affords us many pleasures and excitements and comforts; but, the joy of these natural things can never rise to the supreme joy of the “Grace … mercy, and peace” that “God” our Heavenly “Father” and our “Lord Jesus Christ” gives us; for, it is given to us in perfect “truth” and everlasting “love”. Every natural thing around us has the potential to fail us. Carnally minded people and natural things are often like a beautiful rose bud that opens to reveal its virtually indescribable beauty and pleasant aroma. But all too soon, it begins to wilt and lose its brilliant sheen, and sweet smell. In infinite contrast to natural things, “God” our Heavenly “Father” and our “Lord Jesus Christ” gives His beloved Children “Grace … mercy, and peace” that will never fail us. We often fail our Lord, and when we do, for a time His “Grace … mercy, and peace” seem a great distance from us. We can become so disobedient that we plummet ourselves into such a low state that we cannot rejoice in our Lord’s “Grace … mercy, and peace”, that is when sadness and sorrow overwhelms us. Isaiah explains it this way, “your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). Let us never forget where the real joy of “truth and love” is. Those who have gone after the vanity of carnal things have this exhortation/commandment: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7). Therefore, before our beloved Lord, is where we will find the blessed joy of true “Grace … mercy, and peace”!